Author: Henry Weiss Archive

A diverse group of affordable housing leaders, including National Housing Conference President and Chief Executive Officer David Dworkin, met with National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson, and Senior Advisor to the President Gene Sperling today to discuss legislative, administrative, private sector, and state and local actions to address housing supply and affordability challenges across the country.

Today’s announcement by the Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Open Market Committee to increase interest rates by an additional 75 basis points will drive up the cost of housing and may fail to adequately reduce inflation. Housing supply deficits, made worse by increased interest rates, are likely to blunt the anti-inflationary impact of the Fed’s rate hike as the housing supply continues to shrink, offsetting the impact of interest rate-driven reductions in demand.

The Consumer Price Index report released today showed that despite falling fuel costs, rising housing costs continue to keep inflation at historically high levels. Inflation is not under control and housing is the major reason why.

“Housing price ‘deceleration’ provides little comfort to first-time homebuyers and renters struggling to find affordable housing,” said David M. Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference. “Shaving a few points off a growth rate for housing costs that is still in the double digits is not going to address our housing affordability crisis.”