House Financial Services Committee Holds Hearing on Housing Supply with Focus on Costly Regulations

The U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance held a hearing on March 4, “Building Our Future: Increasing Housing Supply in America.”  

The impact of regulations on the cost of housing construction was a central topic of discussion at the House Financial Services Committe hearing on housing supply. Subcommittee members and witnesses provided examples of costly regulations related to environmental standards and zoning and shared examples from communities where de-regulation has resulted in the construction of more housing supply. Dr. Emily Hamilton from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University discussed the need for reforms that allow for more manufactured housing, noting that many current policies limit where manufactured homes can be sited and drive up costs. 

While material costs, labor costs, and financing challenges for smaller builders were discussed as causes of the affordable housing supply crisis, Ms. Nikitra Bailey from the National Fair Housing Alliance reminded the committee that the nation is facing “not only an affordable housing crisis, but a fair housing crisis.” Complaints of housing discrimination – primarily being raised by people facing housing discrimination because of a disability – are at a record high, while at the same time the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is calling for eliminating fair housing staff at HUD, and contracts for fair housing investigations and enforcement have been terminated.  

NLIHC supports legislation that incentivizes state and local zoning reforms, which will encourage the construction of low- and middle-income housing, as well as legislation that would result in the creation of standardized models and best practices for zoning reforms. However, zoning and regulatory reforms alone will not address the housing needs of renters with the lowest incomes – housing providers cannot afford to construct, maintain, and operate housing that is deeply affordable enough for people with the lowest incomes. Government subsidies are needed to fill in the gap between the cost of housing and what these households can afford to pay. In addition to incentivizing state and local zoning reforms, NLIHC urges Congress to fully fund and adequately staff HUD and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service programs in order to ensure affordable housing is reaching people with the greatest and clearest needs.  

Information about the hearing, witness list, and a link to watch a replay of the hearing can be found here.  Read NLIHC’s statement submitted in advance of the hearing here.