Housing & Insurance Subcommittee Chairman Flood: “The American Dream of Buying a Home is Further Out of Reach for our Country’s Young People"
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Congressman Mike Flood (R-NE) delivered remarks and questioned witnesses over burdensome housing red tape during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. The full committee hearing, entitled 'Building Capacity: Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply' highlighted various barriers to increasing the construction of affordable housing in America.
Congressman Flood, who serves as Chairman of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, delivered opening remarks and questioned witnesses on the commonsense, pro-market solutions and findings developed by his subcommittee over the year.
Footage of Congressman Flood's opening remarks can be found here, while video of his questions can be accessed here. Congressman Flood’s opening remarks, as prepared, are provided below. News outlets are welcome to use these videos for reporting purposes.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Housing costs have been rising in this country for the last several years, and this problem is taking its toll.
Housing affordability affects everyone. For example, the American Dream of buying a home is further out of reach for our country’s young people.
According to the National Association of Realtors, the median age of a first-time homebuyer today is astoundingly 40 years old.
The reason for this affordability problem is simple: we are not building enough homes in this country to meet the demand.
This committee, and the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, have been working on solutions that will cut costs, remove government barriers and unleash more building across the country.
This hearing today is the latest step in that work. We have a wide range of bills noticed today that would address different aspects of the problem.
Whether it be zoning and land-use policies at the state and local level or labor and procurement policies at the federal level—our work is largely focused on addressing current government barriers that make it harder to build at the scale required to meet demand.
I am excited that our committee is taking action, and I look forward to our markup at the end of this month.
I yield back.
The full committee hearing also included six bills introduced by Congressman Flood that were on notice, including his landmark, bipartisan HOME Reform Act of 2025.
Additional bills sponsored by Congressman Flood are the Housing Supply Frameworks Act, the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act, the Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act, as well as H.R. 5263.