Warren Statement on Bipartisan Housing Package Advancing Unanimously Out of Banking Committee
The Scott-Warren ROAD to Housing Act first housing bill to pass Committee in over a decade; Critical to boost housing supply and make housing more affordable
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs unanimously voted to advance the Bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act. This legislation will take important steps to boost the nation’s housing supply, improve housing affordability, help reduce homelessness, expand access to homeownership, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs. Today’s executive session is the committee’s first bipartisan housing markup in over a decade.
Ranking Member Warren’s bipartisan Build Now Act with Senator Kennedy (R-LA), Modular Housing Building Act with Senator Banks (R-IN), her Innovation Fund Act, and other key proposals were included in the housing package along with proposals from Democratic and Republican members across the Committee.
Below is Ranking Member Warren’s opening statement as delivered at the beginning of the legislative markup:
Senator Warren: Rising housing costs represent most families’ largest monthly expense. We need more housing options everywhere, for everyone.
At my first Committee meeting as Ranking Member, I said I would work with any member – Republican or Democrat – to lower costs for American families. This bill is an example of that commitment. I’m proud to have worked with Chairman Scott on the first bipartisan housing legislation to move through the Banking Committee in over a decade. And I want to thank the Chairman for his extraordinary leadership on this issue. I also want to thank the Chairman’s staff for the endless hours they put in behind the scenes to help make this bill a reality.
The package includes proposals from every member of this Committee.
Proposals from Senators Blunt Rochester, Tillis, Alsobrooks, Lummis, Kim, Rounds, and Reed will all support local communities to build more housing, including modular and manufactured housing, and it will eliminate red tape that drives up the cost of building new housing.
Proposals from Senators Smith, Rounds, Reed, Crapo, Van Hollen, Boozman, and Sheehy will help reduce homelessness, improve HUD’s disaster recovery efforts, and preserve and expand housing options for renters and homeowners, including for veterans and people living in rural communities.
Proposals led by Senators Warnock, Gallego, and Cramer will help increase the reliability of home valuations and address appraiser workforce shortages, another problem that increases delays and adds costs to housing.
Senator Cortez Masto’s proposals will reauthorize HUD’s HOME program to expand affordable housing, and it will authorize the PRICE program which is an innovative way to help preserve long-term affordability in manufactured housing communities.
This package is a better bill because of its strong bipartisan provisions.
I’m proud to have worked with Senator Kennedy on a proposal to encourage cities to boost housing supply, with Senator Banks on a proposal to help expand modular housing financing options, and to have secured the Innovation Fund proposal to reward communities that increase supply and lower the cost of building new housing.
For years, the American people have called on their elected officials to act to reduce housing costs. The Scott-Warren legislation represents what is possible when both parties put families ahead of politics. It’s a significant step in the right direction.
I’m happy today, but this is only a first step. Congress must do more. I look forward to continuing to work on these issues.
Chairman Scott, thank you for your commitment to getting this done. We should all be proud of this package and the solutions it delivers to the American people.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and in the Senate to move quickly to pass the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act of 2025.
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