OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 2, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Veterans Housing and Property

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Mr. WILLIAMS. I thank the chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I am proud to rise in support of H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015.

Introduced by my good friend Chairman Luetkemeyer and my friend Congressman Cleaver, this bipartisan piece of legislation is the first step in many to help reform and modernize our outdated Federal housing system.

Mr. Chairman, for too long, government red tape has made many of these housing programs inefficient and ineffective, hurting the very people they aim to support. If signed into law, H.R. 3700 would seek to change that, all the while saving taxpayer-invested money.

First, as mentioned, the CBO projects this bill to be a cost saver. With the Federal deficit reaching almost $19 trillion, the savings in discretionary spending are a direct result of allowing local housing officials and agencies to better manage their programs. Like most Federal programs, inefficient regulations exist that often balloon overall costs.

Additionally, as previously mentioned, for the first time in 80 years of public housing policy, this legislation restricts the use of already scarce public housing units to those who actually need them by establishing an earnings cap. Eliminating Federal subsidies for over- income families has always been key to this discussion. While most wait lists for public housing stretch into the tens of thousands, families who should not receive subsidies, in fact, often do. Plain and simple, public housing should be reserved for those who are most in need.

Finally, H.R. 3700 ensures that our veterans have fair access to HUD housing and homeless assistance programs. With nearly 50,000 homeless vets nationwide, we can and need to do more in this area.

Mr. Chairman, as a member of the House Committee on Financial Services and of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, I thank Chairman Luetkemeyer for his leadership on this issue over the last year, as addressing housing reform is something that is not without controversy.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

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