The hallways of Congress aren’t known for agreement these days. Yet affordable housing has emerged as a rare island of bipartisan cooperation. I’ve spent the past week talking with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who share growing concern about America’s housing crisis.
“We’re facing a national housing emergency,” Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) told me during a phone interview yesterday. “When teachers, nurses, and police officers can’t afford to live in the communities they serve, we’ve got a fundamental market failure.”
The numbers paint a sobering picture. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. faces a shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental homes. Meanwhile, the median home price has jumped 42% since 2019, pricing millions of first-time buyers out of the market.
What’s striking about current legislative efforts is the genuine cross-party engagement. Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana has partnered with Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii on the YIMBY Act, which would encourage localities to eliminate barriers to housing development. The bill has gained surprising traction in both chambers.
“This isn’t about big government versus small government,” Senator Young explained during a recent housing committee hearing. “It’s about removing unnecessary obstacles that prevent the market from building the housing Americans need.”
I’ve covered housing policy for nearly two decades, and the current moment feels different. The pandemic exposed and worsened housing insecurity, while inflation pushed housing costs to unsustainable levels. These pressures have created uncomfortable realities that politicians can no longer ignore.
A key bipartisan proposal gaining momentum is the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which would offer tax credits to rehabilitate homes in distressed communities. The Urban Institute estimates this could create over 500,000 homes in the next decade while revitalizing struggling neighborhoods.
Housing advocate Maria Rodriguez shared with me how this approach differs from previous efforts. “What’s working now is focusing on solutions that align with both conservative and progressive values – supporting homeownership, building community wealth, and addressing market failures without excessive regulation.”
Last Tuesday, I toured a mixed-income development in suburban Maryland with local officials. The project combined tax credits, zoning reforms, and public-private partnerships – exactly the kind of multi-faceted approach gaining bipartisan support in Congress.
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have complicated matters further. Mortgage rates hovering around 7% have created what housing economist Mark Zandi calls a “lock-in effect,” with current homeowners reluctant to sell and take on higher-rate mortgages.
“We’re building about 1.5 million homes annually, but we need closer to 2 million to address the backlog,” Zandi told me. “The math simply doesn’t work without policy intervention.”
During a recent visit to a construction site in Northern Virginia, I spoke with small-scale developer Sarah Jensen. “Labor shortages, material costs, and restrictive zoning are strangling our ability to build,” she explained while showing me blueprints for a modest apartment building that took three years to get approved.
Some promising legislative proposals include:
– The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
– The Build More Housing Near Transit Act, incentivizing transit-oriented development.
– The Housing Supply and Affordability Act, providing grants to localities that reform zoning.
What makes these proposals politically viable is their focus on market-based solutions and local control rather than federal mandates. As Representative Mike Turner (R-Ohio) noted during a recent committee hearing, “We can support housing affordability without expanding the federal government’s footprint.”
I’ve observed that lawmakers are increasingly making the economic case for housing investment. A report from the National Association of Home Builders suggests that building 1,000 single-family homes generates 2,900 jobs and $110 million in taxes and revenue.
Not everyone is optim
