Housing for the 21st Century Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6644, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, sponsored by Chairman Hill and myself.

This bill represents the most significant housing reform package in decades and will finally get America back on track to building affordable housing.

Our bill includes dozens of bipartisan provisions to build new housing, lower mortgage and rental costs, expand homeownership, modernize Federal housing programs, prioritize home buyers and renters over corporate landlords, and support community bankers that finance affordable housing development and mortgages each day.

This final bill marks the culmination of numerous hearings, markups, votes, creative input from committee Democrats, and tough negotiations across both sides the aisle and the Capitol.

This bill speaks to the real change that our constituents have been demanding, where everyone can afford a dignified place to call home, where tenants are protected, and where working Americans can finally get ahead.

As a reminder of who we are trying to help and what is at stake, let's review the facts. The average cost of a single-family home has skyrocketed, and wages have not kept pace. The median age of a first- time home buyer is 40 years old. Rents have soared by nearly 47 percent since before the pandemic. Not surprisingly, 42 million American households are cost-burdened, and most shamefully, 800,000 people experience homelessness on any given night. Our country must do better, and today we will do better by passing H.R. 6644.

I have said since day one that housing must be a national priority. That is why I thank Chairman Hill for his partnership. This will be the third time this Congress has passed housing reform legislation, and each time, the bill has gotten better and better.

I also commend Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Ranking Member Emanuel Cleaver, Chairman Flood, along with our committee Democrats and Senators Warren and Scott for coming together on this historic bipartisan and bicameral bill.

By working together, we will deliver a stronger, more impactful legislative package to be signed into law, one with more practical solutions and affordable housing opportunities for American families than before.

This comprehensive package incorporates over 50 housing and banking provisions championed by House Democrats. It will lay the groundwork for the development of new, affordable homes all across America and create new pathways to homeownership. The bill will reduce unnecessary barriers to housing development, expand financing for housing and community investment, and support the development of innovative housing like modular homes and accessory dwelling units. It creates databases for available publicly owned lands so communities know where they can build.

The bill provides a range of new protections for renters, including a hotline to file complaints with HUD and corporate landlords. The bill increases access to smaller-dollar mortgages under $100,000, and the bill, finally, codifies the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Program, which will help expedite flexible funding to communities seeking to rebuild homes after major disasters like hurricanes and wildfires.

H.R. 6644 also supports thousands of community lenders, including community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, so they can more affordably finance home buyers and housing developers.

Importantly, this bill includes the House language to responsibly rein in corporate landlords by banning large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes but without halting construction of new rental housing or evicting families in the middle of a housing crisis. Tenants will have a national resource center to file grievances about corporate landlords, to which HUD will respond, and large institutional investors will be publicly named in an annual report along with the number and location of their properties.

I am very proud of this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this first step to finally addressing our Nation's affordable housing crisis.

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Ms. WATERS. 1981, the Choice in Affordable Housing Act; H.R. 5878, the HOME Reform Act; and H.R. 5938, the Innovation Fund Act.

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Ms. WATERS. 8291, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, and H.R. 3716, the Systemic Risk Authority Transparency Act.

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Ms. WATERS.

Mrs. Beatty authored H.R. 2031, the HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act, and H.R. 3709, the Advancing the Mentor-Protege Program for Small Financial Institutions Act.

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Ms. WATERS. Tlaib), who authored H.R. 6768, the Housing Our Communities Act, which is included in this bill.
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Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for working with me to clarify the intent behind this section. I agree with what Mr. Hill has described on the congressional intent for section 1001.

Madam Speaker, for years I have fought hard to make housing affordable, but for many years, it was hard to prioritize housing in both Democratic and Republican-led Houses.

It is for that reason, I am deeply grateful for Chairman Hill who worked so closely with me to write H.R. 6644 and prioritize it in our committee and in this House. Together, we found compromise that had previously proven so difficult. I hope that this partnership can continue to deliver for America because we still have a lot of work to do.

Madam Speaker, I also thank both of our staffs on the committee because without their hard work, this bill would not likely be here before us today.

This legislation must serve as a foundation for continued action, not the final step in addressing our Nation's housing crisis. We must build on this progress and continue to advocate and secure the resources our communities critically need.

Madam Speaker, I dedicate our work to some of the people in public housing who will have an opportunity now to help understand how their communities can be improved. In my district, Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs, Gonzack Village, Imperial Courts, and Avalon Gardens, I thank them for what I have learned. To my home in St. Louis, Missouri, where I was born, I thank those who lived and died in bond projects in Pruitt-Igoe and those projects where they had a difficult time many years ago. We are now leading to a point where we will be able to make all of those projects more livable. We will be able to have the constituents in those projects understand how their lives can be bettered.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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