On March 4, 2025, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Housing and Insurance Subcommittee held a hearing focused on increasing housing supply in America.
The National Apartment Association (NAA) has long been urging lawmakers to focus on ways to improve our nation’s housing supply in an effort to ease longstanding housing affordability challenges. The subcommittee - under the leadership of new chairman Mike Flood (R-Neb.-1) - has taken this call to heart with its very first hearing focused on this critical issue.
Key Takeaways
The hearing covered a variety of topics but largely centered on three main areas:
- Barriers to housing development and affordability
- The role of the federal government in housing policy
- Challenges in the housing market and workforce
Importantly, three pieces of legislation were noticed at the hearing, meaning they can be considered by the committee at a later date. These include the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act (formerly the YIMBY Act), the Housing Supply and Innovation Frameworks Act, and the Housing for America’s Middle-Class Act. Two of the three bills have been formally endorsed by NAA.
Much of the testimony at the hearing focused on identifying regulatory barriers to housing development, state and local impediments that restrict new housing supply and solutions that would improve the ability of both single and multifamily developers to increase housing supply at all price points. Chairman Flood clearly recognized the link between the undersupply of housing and its impact on housing affordability, and has pledged to use his gavel to move legislation that would improve the ability of housing providers to meet the growing demand for housing at all price points.
NAA continues efforts to advance sustainable housing policies that ease barriers to development, boost the supply of critically needed housing and that protect the long-term viability of the nation’s rental housing stock. Learn more with NAA’s 2025 policy priorities.