NLIHC Interim CEO and President Renee Willis Testifies before Senate Banking Committee on Bipartisan Solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing, “Housing Roadblocks: Paving a New Way to Address Affordability,” on March 12. The hearing addressed bipartisan proposals to help solve the nation’s affordable housing crisis. Witnesses included NLIHC Interim President and CEO Renee Willis; The Honorable Eric Johnson, Mayor of Dallas, Texas; Lee Jelenic, Chief Innovation Officer at United Wholesale Mortgage; and Dr. Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University.  

Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) opened the hearing by emphasizing that housing should not be a partisan issue. The Chairman noted the high costs of both homeownership and rental housing, and discussed how prohibitively high costs create housing instability and homelessness. He stated that too much government regulation is preventing housing supply from keeping up with demand, and that state and local governments are best positioned to address housing supply.  

Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) highlighted the shortage of affordable homes and the increase in housing costs in recent decades, and noted the many bipartisan solutions that have been proposed to help address the nation’s affordable housing crisis. She listed several bills, including her recently reintroduced “American Housing and Economic Recovery Act” (S.934) and the bipartisan “Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act” (S.1257), both endorsed by NLIHC. Senator Warren finished her opening statement by talking about the assault on HUD and the potential impacts of cuts to programs and staff. 

In her testimony, Ms. Willis highlighted how the impacts of the housing crisis are most acute for extremely low-income (ELI) households. She cited the shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for ELI households, the lack of rental assistance for many who need it, the high rate (75%) of severe cost burden for ELI households, and actions the government can take to address these challenges and improve household stability. Ms. Willis urged Congress to take action to “bridge the gap between incomes and housing costs through universal rental assistance, build and preserve rental homes affordable to people with the lowest incomes, prevent evictions and homelessness by stabilizing families during a crisis, and strengthen and enforce renter protections to address the power imbalance that tilts heavily in favor of landlords.” 

Members of the committee agreed the affordable housing crisis is pervasive and shared a concern for the ability of current and future generations to purchase a home.  Many members of the committee and two of the witnesses, Mayor Johson and Dr. Glaeser, focused on the role of land use regulations in driving up housing costs and inhibiting supply growth. Democratic committee members also emphasized the need for federal investments to address the need for more supply. 

Senators Rounds (R-NE) and Smith (D-MN) discussed their bill, the “Rural Housing Service Reform Act” (S.1389 in the 118th Congress), which NLIHC has also endorsed. The bill has several provisions related to housing programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS), including decoupling the Section 521 Rental Assistance (RA) program when the property’s Section 515 mortgage expires. Both Senators asked about the bill, and Senator Smith emphasized the need to preserve this necessary rental assistance for low-income households in rural communities. Ms. Willis highlighted that many people living in these homes are people working low-wage jobs, people with disabilities, seniors, students, and caregivers.  

Ms. Willis also discussed the national Housing Trust Fund – the only program that deeply targets ELI households. Without this program, it is very difficult to build housing that is affordable to ELI households. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), a champion of the HTF, said that he hopes to expand the program in the current Congress.  

Members of the committee raised other bills that NLIHC has endorsed to address the housing supply crisis and help bridge the gap between incomes and rent, including the “Helping More Families Save Act” (S.3904 in the 118th Congress), which helps renters in HUD housing to save more of their income, and the “HOME Reauthorization Act” (S.948), which would improve the HOME program, which provides critical gap financing for affordable housing development.  

View a recording of the hearing and read the witnesses’ testimony here. 

Read Interim President and CEO Renee Willis’s written testimony here.