{"id":24,"date":"2026-05-22T20:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=24"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:31:08","slug":"congress-gets-serious-about-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=24","title":{"rendered":"Congress Gets Serious About Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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S<\/span>ACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014\u00a0On most major issues, Congress has largely been AWOL or consumed by partisan bickering, but once in while it proves that it can pass constructive legislation and \u2014 will wonders never cease? \u2014 do so in a bipartisan manner. The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a package called the 21st Century ROAD (Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream) to Housing Act. The legislation involves a mishmash of regulatory changes, but lawmakers are finally focused on the right solution: Making it easier for developers to build more housing.<\/p>\n

Read more Why Does Donald Trump Squash Conservative Republicans?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs now written, the Act will be the most significant legislation to increase housing supply in years and has the potential to meet our shared housing goals of providing more housing options and more housing affordability in communities across the country,\u201d per a\u00a0\u00a0to Congress from some of the nation\u2019s most prominent housing groups. \u201cThis legislation preserves flexible housing options for renters, eases affordability challenges and provides more options for those on the path toward homeownership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro-housing groups are relieved that the House stripped out the legislation\u2019s most contentious\u00a0provisions: A Senate amendment that would have required investors who build single-family homes as rentals to sell them within seven years. That would have essentially stopped the construction of these units, which provide a useful option for some renters. Many people who can\u2019t afford a home would rather live in a single-family residence than an apartment. That rule also was an affront to the basic principles of a free-market economy.<\/p>\n

The latest version of the legislation still includes restrictions \u2014 although less severe than originally proposed \u2014 on the ability of large investors to buy properties. That\u2019s a big populist concern on the Right and Left these days, but institutional investors own only a small share of the nation\u2019s properties. President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have both championed this noxious\u00a0idea. Again, in a free market, companies should be free to buy and sell properties as they choose. But the rest of the package is pretty reasonable.<\/p>\n

As the House Committee on Financial Services\u00a0, \u201cThe American people are laser-focused on the cost of living, and housing is a major driver. Housing supply has not kept pace with demand, leaving the nation short by as many as 5.5 million units. Rising construction costs, regulatory delays and outdated zoning constraints have all fueled this crisis. Additionally, small and medium sized banks that finance new construction loans are struggling to provide financing due to regulatory burdens.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sums up the problem nicely. Some critics argue that there\u2019s no real housing crisis, as the rising prices are simply the result of supply and demand. Well, yes, but the problem is that government regulations have restricted the supply of housing \u2014 and cumbersome financing rules make it difficult for qualified borrowers to receive credit to buy homes. Housing markets are local, and there\u2019s a limited role\u00a0for the feds, but federal financing and subsidy rules need updating \u2014 and it\u2019s wise to incentivize local governments to loosen their zoning rules.<\/p>\n

Median home prices obviously\u00a0vary greatly by state, ranging from $250,000 in Iowa to $850,000 in California, but federal environmental rules in particular add to the costs of construction. For instance, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires extensive and costly reviews for projects that receive federal funding. I\u2019m not fond of such subsidies, but if the government is going to provide them then it shouldn\u2019t then hobble these projects with\u00a0unnecessary reviews.<\/p>\n

Read more The Trump Effect<\/a><\/p>\n

My housing work is focused mainly on California, which has the overall highest prices and the lowest housing affordability rates. In California, the median home price has quadrupled from 2000 to today, which is still more than a doubling in prices when accounting for inflation. It\u2019s driven by state and local slow-growth rules and local . Government policies have artificially restricted supply, which of course has driven up prices for existing properties.<\/p>\n

Our problems also stem from the state\u2019s \u201clandmark\u201d California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which requires voluminous impact reports and encourages litigation. A 2020\u00a0report\u00a0from the Center for Jobs found that CEQA lawsuits targeted nearly half of the state\u2019s new housing units \u2014 and that California is building only one-third of the state\u2019s housing targets. Other states face similar problems, although as usual California ratchets up the bureaucratic insanity a few notches.<\/p>\n

Realistically, the passage of this federal housing package will only help around the margins \u2014 but at least it indicates a growing bipartisan consensus around the need to reform regulations that restrict the housing market. It might encourage state legislatures to reform their states\u2019 zoning rules. California\u2019s lawmakers have passed many new laws that make it easier to build housing and force\u00a0localities\u00a0to step back from their usual NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard), but they don\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s noteworthy that Democrats have been the driving force for these deregulatory measures, although they remain fixated on only promoting higher-density construction \u2014 rather than deregulating all types of housing construction, including the single-family homes that most people prefer. But conservatives here have been equally inconsistent, as they use \u201clocal control\u201d as a mantra to defend heavy-handed local restrictions on market-based construction.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has given\u00a0mixed signals\u00a0on this issue, although it is\u00a0backing\u00a0this housing package. So perhaps its passage will show that there\u2019s plenty of common ground to be had on this key affordability issue. And who knows? Perhaps Congress and the administration might apply these lessons to other national problems.<\/p>\n

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/span>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more The Spectacle Ep. 422: Morally Depraved \u2018Mangionistas\u2019 and a Corrupt Justice System<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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