The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing on Wednesday titled “Building Consensus to Address Housing Challenges” that covered a wide range of housing industry issues that make housing unaffordable. The hearing featured testimony from Lou Tisler, Executive Director of the National NeighborWorks Association (NNA), Vanessa Brown Calder, Director of Opportunity and Family Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Each spoke to what Congress could do to help ease pressures in the housing market. Examples include increasing the affordable housing supply, limiting regulatory constraints, and passing bipartisan housing-focused legislation. The witnesses mentioned a slew of different housing proposals during the hearing, including the Choice in Affordable Housing Act, the Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act, the Eviction Crisis Act, the HOME Investment Partnership Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2023, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, and the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act.

“There is not one silver bullet to address all the housing challenges faced across our nation,” said Tisler during his testimony. “NNA knows from experience that broad consensus works, whether here on Capitol Hill or between our partners at the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Realtors, and the National Home Builders Association. Between organizations like ours and NeighborWorks America and the National Housing Conference; between the Housing Assistance Counsel and Grounded Solutions Network or the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition and a host of others, including my colleagues testifying beside me today. The urgency of consensus is now and will lead to success in addressing our housing challenges. A consensus in addressing our housing challenges will show taxpayers that there are achievable solutions that are good for them, our communities, and our country.”

The hearing touched on zoning and land use regulation, Housing First strategies to ending homelessness, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, flood insurance, and other issues, many of which the witnesses supported. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said during the hearing, “I think that I hear Mr. Chair, that there is a significant amount of bipartisan agreement on how we might approach this and a clear understanding that we have a supply problem.”

Congress members updated two housing bills last week, leading up to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing “Building Consensus to Address Housing Challenges.” First, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the Committee’s Ranking Member, released a discussion draft of his previously announced ROAD to Housing Act. The Act focuses on six categories of improvements, broken down into a section-by-section fact sheet. Within those categories are various housing-related program changes, including reforms to housing counseling and financial literacy programs, reforms to the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, creating incentives for small-dollar loans, authorization of the Moving to Work program, incentivizing local solutions to homelessness, increasing housing in Opportunity Zones, and requiring annual testimony from various agencies working to address housing issues.

“Homes and communities aren’t built without hard work. So, after making requests from everyone else in this room, I want to make a promise myself to consistently stay at the table, making sure that housing affordability is not a hearing, but a theme that permeates throughout the entire year,” Scott said during the Committee’s hearing.

Also last week, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) reintroduced the Fair Housing Improvement Act of 2023. The legislation aims to protect veterans and low-income families from housing discrimination by adding veteran status and source of income as protected classes under the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

“Access to safe, affordable housing provides individuals with stability and opportunity, but too often, individuals have been denied housing because of how they pay rent,” said Kaine. “I’m proud to reintroduce this bill to protect veterans and low-income families from discrimination and expand access to housing for all Americans.”

HUD announced steps to ensure that housing opportunities are not denied to qualified people due to a criminal record. The department will issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the upcoming weeks and develop updated regulations for public housing agencies and HUD-subsidized housing providers to apply principles of the Fair Housing Act better and address discrimination concerns. In addition, PHAs and HUD-affiliated owners will receive assistance to determine convictions relevant to health and safety and how to conduct individualized assessments when reviewing criminal records. HUD will also provide technical assistance to encourage grantees, PHAs, and housing owners to use HUD programs to provide housing and services that support people’s successful reentry into the community. This announcement follows a comprehensive review of HUD regulations to increase opportunities for qualified individuals, including not automatically denying an applicant due to a prior criminal conviction.

“This Fair Housing Month and Second Chance Month, HUD recognizes that current criminal justice and housing policies have denied those seeking rehabilitation a chance to lead better lives,” said HUD Secretary Fudge. “As we execute our action plan, I invite state and local housing agencies, owners, and property managers to partner with HUD to remove barriers to housing to people with criminal records and support people’s successful reentry to the community. Research shows that providing safe and affordable housing and supportive services so that people succeed during reentry makes our communities stronger and safer.”