Lowering Housing Costs and Advancing Main Street Community Banks
Floor Speech
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Mr. MACKENZIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Florida for yielding, and I thank Chairman Hill and members of the Financial Services Committee who helped bring this legislation, the Housing for the 21st Century, to the House floor and helped get it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Throughout our Nation, the American people are experiencing a housing crisis that has been years in the making.
From 2020 to 2024, the cost of a home soared 37 percent. Over that same period, rents increased 24 percent. Many communities, including those that I represent in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, have seen even sharper increases. In Allentown, home prices have increased 63 percent in the past 5 years while rents have risen 44 percent. Working families who were already squeezed by the worst inflation in decades have been stretched to the limit by these increases, dashing their hopes and derailing their plans.
For millions of hardworking Americans, especially young people, renting has become a painful burden, and homeownership has become a near impossibility. Apartments in cities should not be reserved only for those who can afford luxury units. They should be accessible to all working Americans who keep our cities running and keep them safe. Houses shouldn't be limited to those who have a lifetime of accumulated assets. They should be available to young families and those just starting out who have scraped and saved to afford a reasonable downpayment. However, what we have seen after years of bad economic policies in the Biden administration, those inflationary prices have actually made it so that the first-time home buyer has risen to the age of 40.
For millions of Americans striving to afford the American Dream: We hear you, and we see you.
That is why this Financial Services Committee, led by Chairman Hill, has brought this legislation to the floor. It is why the administration and President Trump are speaking out about changes to our housing situation right here in the United States.
Congress is now working in a bipartisan way to resolve this issue and bring back housing affordability. In 2025, as a part of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, we passed what has been called the largest expansion ever of affordable housing tax credits. Our reforms to the low-income housing tax credit are predicted to create 1.2 million additional affordable housing units over the next decade, helping millions more Americans access the high-quality affordable housing they deserve. We have also passed legislation like the SPEED Act, clearing away bureaucratic obstacles that are slowing down construction and driving up costs.
Today, the Housing for the 21st Century Act will help us take an additional step forward.
This bipartisan legislation tackles some of the biggest challenges driving today's housing shortage, cutting red tape, streamlining Federal processes, and using public policy to support housing production rather than slow it down. By enabling jurisdictions to adopt ready-to-use, pre-approved home designs, it helps builders focus on building instead of navigating unnecessary bureaucracy. By modernizing key HUD programs and coordinating outdated review processes, it ensures the department supports construction and opportunity rather than standing in the way. By expanding flexible financing tools for community and neighborhood lenders, it empowers them to do what they do best: serve local communities and help power America's housing comeback.
We know that solving the housing crisis requires a lot of changes for our State and local government partners, but we in the Federal Government have a role to play as well, one where we can help facilitate these changes as opposed to more bureaucracy or rules that stand in the way of American talent and ingenuity. By embracing these reforms, we can help grow the housing supply, expand opportunity, and unlock the American Dream for millions of Americans.
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