Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and Sen. John Kennedy, have released their new bipartisan bill, the “Build Now Act,” a measure aimed at incentivizing communities to build more housing. The bill will be included in the housing package the Committee is scheduled to soon mark up, along with other bills to boost housing supply, preserve and expand housing for veterans and in rural areas, reduce homelessness, and more.
“Americans are suffering under sky-high housing prices caused by a worsening housing shortage. The Federal government should use the tools at our disposal to reward communities that are taking bold action to build more housing and reduce families’ biggest monthly expense,” said Sen. Warren. “It’s time for Congress to act—and this bipartisan proposal is a call to action to communities across the country to build housing now.”
The Build Now Act:
- Will encourage housing construction by boosting localities’ Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding when they improve their track record on building more housing, and adjusting it modestly when they do not.
- Will provide communities with a two-year grace period to take action and improve their track record on building more housing.
- Focuses on driving down costs and rewarding success in communities with high demand for housing units and low supply. Excluded from this pilot are communities with low housing demand and signs of economic distress, have experienced recent natural disasters, or do not have control over zoning and permitting.
- Using Census data, communities will be measured against their own prior performance, ensuring a fair standard is applied to communities with distinct housing constraints. Communities that are accelerating home building would receive a boost in their CDBG funding. Those that fail to improve housing growth and drive down costs would experience a small CDBG reduction.
- Communities that HUD has notified are at risk of experiencing a cut to their CDBG funding will have access to HUD guidance on how to improve their performance.
“In my book, homeownership shouldn’t be a pipe dream for the average American family,” said Sen. Kennedy. “Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me. Government overregulation has brought homebuilding to a grinding halt and left ordinary people waving in the wind as existing home prices went through the roof. I’m proud to introduce the Build Now Act to discourage pointless roadblocks and incentivize cities to help make the American Dream possible again.”
Further bills of late dedicated to affordable housing … with federal interest swelling regarding the privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Reps. Tom Suozzi and Nicole Malliotakis have introduced a bipartisan bill calling for the federal government to dedicate as much as $250 billion received from ending the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie to be invested in the construction of up to affordable housing.
Under the “Housing for U.S. Act,” union labor would be contracted to build up to 3.5 million housing units, dedicated specifically for middle-class Americans. After 10 years, the remaining funds would be used for deficit reduction. The Housing for U.S. Act calls for the creation of a federally backed, low-cost loan program that will:
- Build new housing units across the country.
- Serve working families earning up to 150% of Area Median Income (AMI)—more than $210,000 per year for a family of four in high-cost areas like New York City.
- Prioritize ownership and affordability for teachers, nurses, first responders, tradespeople, and other Americans who power U.S. communities.
“If Fannie and Freddie are released, the government could recoup $250 billion,” said Rep. Suozzi. “We should capitalize on this moment by using these funds to build homes for men, women, and families in the American middle-class, and we should pay union workers to do it. It’s good for the economy, good for families, and good for America.”
Click here for more on Sen. Warren and Sen. Kennedy’s Build Now Act.
