WASHINGTON—Today’s nomination hearing in the Senate Banking Committee demonstrates the critical nature of America’s housing challenges, particularly for lower-income people. It also shows the depth of focus on the country’s housing needs by members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. The National Housing Conference is pleased to see so many leaders in both parties sharing our commitment to see all in America have equal opportunity to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community.
Dr. Carson’s testimony addressed persistent affordable housing challenges, particularly the limited reach of federal housing help, which serves only one of every four households that qualify for it. Questions from lawmakers in both parties drew out specific issues HUD must address in the months and years to come, including rising rents in communities of opportunity, barriers to creation and preservation of housing, homelessness experienced by veterans and many others, racial and income gaps in access to homeownership, persistent patterns of residential segregation, the critical role for public housing, and the future stability of the mortgage market.
“I was pleased to see Dr. Carson note housing as a social determinant of health, acknowledge the importance of mobility and opportunity as well as some challenges like fair lending and barriers to development that raise housing costs. The silent rental housing crisis and difficulty of households to access homeownership will be two areas where HUD and his leadership can make a real difference for our country,” said Chris Estes, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference. “We look forward to sitting down with him and his team to discuss these and other issues very soon.”
Should Dr. Carson be confirmed by the Senate, he will join a select group of public officials who guide our nation’s housing policy, not only from HUD but also from Treasury, Agriculture, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, among others. We look forward to seeing the team of officials the incoming HUD Secretary will select to guide the agency through the complex decisions it will make on housing issues to come.
About NHC: Everyone in America should have equal opportunity to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community. The National Housing Conference educates decision makers and the public about housing policies and practices to move housing forward together. NHC convenes and collaborates with our diverse membership and the broader housing and community development sectors to advance our policy, research and communications initiatives to effect positive change at the federal, state and local levels. Founded in 1931, we are a nonpartisan, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. NHC’s research team operated as the Center for Housing Policy until the organizations merged in 2013.
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Contact:
Andrea Nesby
202.466.2121 ext. 240
anesby@nhc.org