Key Housing Supply Hearing Set for December 3
On Wednesday, December 3rd, the House Financial Services Committee will have a hearing entitled: Building Capacity: Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply. The hearing will take place at 10:00 am EST and can be viewed by clicking this link.
The Committee will hear testimony from four witnesses on a myriad of housing bills introduced in the House to address housing supply and regulatory issues. In a memo drafted by the Committee majority staff to the Members of the Committee, the staff states the hearing will “continue the Committee’s examination of the factors and policies that have led to the lack of housing supply in America.”
Like the ROAD to Housing Act passed by the US Senate last month, the legislation being considered by the HFS Committee, if enacted, could have a dramatic effect on the regulation, supply, and cost of producing housing of all types. In conversations we have had with both committee staff and individual staff of Committee Members, it has been suggested that some or all of the legislation could be packaged into a House housing bill, similar to the ROAD Act, and considered by the full House. If this were to occur, the House and Senate would presumably conference on the two pieces of legislation with the hope of passing a single comprehensive housing bill.
Included in the legislation to be discussed on Wednesday are:
H.R.4659, the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act, which requires communities that receive Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program funds to submit to HUD information regarding their implementation of certain land-use policies, such as policies for expanding high-density single-family and multifamily zoning.
H.R. 5878, the HOME Reform Act of 2025, which, among other issues within HOME, would exclude HOME developments from federal NEPA requirements as well as Build America/Buy America mandates.
H.R. 5913, the Community Investment and Prosperity Act, which raises the Public Welfare Investment (PWI) cap for banks from 15% to 20%.
H.R. 6293, the Housing Supply Expansion Act, which amends the definition of “manufactured home” by striking a requirement that it be built on a permanent chassis.
We will be monitoring the hearing and will report on anything of significance. More importantly, we will let you know when action is pending on the legislation and if we will need outreach to Members' offices in support of the legislation.
As you can see, we continue to see Congress working on issues of importance to affordable housing, even as the year winds down. We have been and will continue to be engaged in these discussions, and thank you for your input and advocacy.