Building Capacity: Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply
Committee on Banking and Currency
2025-12-03
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
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Mr. Kevin Sears
Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Today's hearing is entitled Building Capacity, Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days within which to submit extraneous material to the chair for inclusion in the record. I now recognize myself for four minutes for an opening statement.
Over the last decade, housing affordability has rapidly become one of the main issues facing our American families, which have been primarily driven by a persistent lack of supply needed to meet a growing demand. The delta between supply and demand has resulted in an affordability challenge many Americans face in looking to purchase a home. This committee has held numerous hearings on critical aspects of this issue, including barriers to building middle-class housing, better utilization of modular manufactured housing to meet urgent needs, and the unique housing challenges that rural America faces. More recently, our Housing and Insurance Subcommittee held a hearing reviewing the urgent need to modernize the federal housing construction program, the HOME program, to make it the most effective and responsive to today's market demands. Each of these discussions has highlighted a severe, decades-long shortfall in housing inventory that has hindered many Americans' access to affordable homes.
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Mr. Kevin Sears
Regulatory complexity, particularly those locally designed and approved rules, remains a significant obstacle for property owners and builders, complicating the development process and often resulting in delays and increased expenses. Rather than helping development, overburdensome building regulations have made it nearly impossible for many housing providers to navigate a maze of federal, state, and local rules, leading to less housing development across the nation.
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Mr. Kevin Sears
Likewise, homebuilders and hopeful homebuyers are being crushed by the tailwinds of the 40-year high in inflation brought about by trillions in new spending from the Biden administration and excessive laxity on the part of the Federal Reserve in late 2020 and 2021. This inflationary spike elevated the cost per square foot, pushed down real incomes, contributed to higher insurance premiums and obviously higher interest rates as the Fed, behind the curve, fought to overcome these errors.
Inflation is down to 3% from its ugly peak of 9% in 2022. In line with the committee's Make a Community Banking Great Again agenda, committee Republicans have been working alongside the Trump administration to ensure that community banks remain viable, competitive, and able to serve their local needs to combat rising housing costs. Greater capital, better deposit funding, and lower compliance costs mean greater credit availability by our banks for our construction industry.
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Mr. Kevin Sears
Our focus today is not about expanding government control. It's about how our government can work through to cut red tape that's stifling innovation and discouraging investment in housing projects. My Republican colleagues and I understand that the first step in creating a well-functioning housing market starts with streamlining regulatory processes and eliminating redundant layers of bureaucracy. By doing so, we can create a more predictable environment for builders, lenders, buyers and renters. After we take feedback from today's hearing, we plan to hold a markup later this month on a package of housing and banking reform solutions for our nation's housing challenges.
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Mr. Kevin Sears
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Mr. Tobias Peter
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The cost of living is skyrocketing, and working class families are struggling to pay their rent and mortgages. And what is Donald Trump doing to solve this crisis? Raising housing costs. He's imposing tariffs on lumber and other building materials, gutting the key civil rights protections meant to end housing discrimination and unleashing mask ice agents on American cities wreaking havoc on families and communities and fueling labor shortages at places like home. construction sites, and now Trump wants to gut permanent supportive housing funding, which would force 170,000 people back onto the streets, a move that will significantly harm people with disabilities, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and women with children. Mr. Chairman, I don't have to tell you how severe the housing crisis has come. As it stands, nearly 800,000 people are experiencing homelessness, and most American families use the bulk of their paycheck for their rent or mortgage. This is a serious problem and requires serious solutions. FHFA Director Bill Pulte, who spends more time launching baseless political witch hunts than solving the housing crisis, have proposed a 50-year mortgage. This is the most preposterous housing policy anyone has ever come with. What is the next brilliant idea? A 100-year mortgage? We shouldn't expect any progress on the housing crisis when people in charge are unserious and out of their depth. Committee Democrats are serious about solving this crisis right after
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Mr. Tobias Peter
the administration proposed gutting funding for permanent supportive housing, I demanded HUD Secretary Scott Turner to reverse the decision in a letter that I led with 52 other House Democrats. At the same time, my Democratic colleagues and I in the House and Senate have worked in a bipartisan manner to get the road to housing bill included in the NDAA, a common sense legislative package that would chip away at the crisis. Well, we all work in good faith to reach a deal. I know there have been some concerns, and Mr. Hill, I know that some of your concerns are my concerns, and I know that you walked away from the negotiations. Well, while I'm disappointed in that decision, I'm encouraged that
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