During last Wednesday's Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) questioned witnesses about her bill to reauthorize and update the Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOME Program, and the need to increase housing supply to improve affordability.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Yes, sir. Senator Cortez Masto.
00:03Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Scott and to our ranking member for holding this hearing.
00:06I so appreciate it. This is such an issue as you can only imagine and hear right now
00:11across the country, including in Nevada. So I and I thank you, the panelists, for your
00:17candor and not taking the bait sometimes when some of my colleagues try to bait you into
00:22some conversations. The truth matters. And most importantly, how do we address housing
00:28matters and being honest about it? So let me talk a little bit about Nevada, because
00:33one of the things I do know, it is a supply issue. There's no doubt about it. We have
00:37to address the supply, but we also have to address the affordability. I have working
00:44families that can't afford homes. So it's not just the supply. It's how do we ensure
00:49that no matter your station in life, you can afford that home? Because the homes that are
00:53being built in my state are a little bit more costly, quite honestly, because we get
00:59federal land. Eighty percent of the land is owned by the federal government. So the first
01:03step in building housing is getting that land from the federal government. That's the first
01:08cost that now is associated with building those homes. So now we have to figure out
01:13how we level the playing field so we can lower those costs. It is about building, but it's
01:18also the financing that goes into that building to ensure that we can keep some of those costs
01:23low enough for those families, those working families, to be able to afford these homes.
01:29And one of those programs that we have at the federal level that I still believe in,
01:34I think we need to continue to utilize it and modernize it, is the home program. And
01:41so let me, Ms. Willis, let me ask you. I have a bill, which is the home bill, which is S-948.
01:49And what it does is the home program that was, I want to say it was created in 1994,
01:55has not been reauthorized, reformed, or anything since 1994. So what I've done is taken it,
02:01updated it, to make sure it works better for our families and our communities, and introduced
02:07it yesterday. So, Ms. Willis, can I ask you, how does the home program contribute to building
02:14more affordable homes for those working families, like in my state, where we have to address
02:20one key piece of that cost, which is getting that federal land first?
02:24Thank you for the question. And also, thank you for your leadership in introducing the
02:28legislation to improve the home program. Home, as you know, it's another financing structure
02:37to allow deals to pencil out. And so it is a critical source of gap financing, and so
02:44it is important. So we would certainly love to continue working with you to improve homes
02:50so that it better supports CHODOs, which are community housing development organizations,
02:57so that they can better serve extremely low-income households.
03:01Thank you. And then, Dr. Glazer, thank you so much. I had a question for you on manufactured
03:06homes, but you answered it, and I thank you for your candor there. But let me ask you
03:10this. You also talked a little bit about federal land. And can you expand on your view that
03:15using federal land for housing is not by itself going to meet the affordable housing needs
03:21of this country? I'm curious if you would expand on that thought a little bit more.
03:25So thank you very much for your question, and thank you for your interest in manufactured
03:31homes as well. And I'm also interested in the idea of putting pre-zoning federal land
03:35for manufactured housing. We can think about combining the two as well. I think all federal
03:39land should be taken on a case-by-case basis. We should think about it. My comment, I don't
03:43think it's going to solve America's affordable housing problem, is because it's often not
03:50in the places where we have an affordability crisis. And there are many parts of America
03:53which just don't have substantial amounts of federal land anywhere nearby. I mean, it's
03:57impossible to imagine in greater Boston what federal land we would use to solve that problem.
04:01But there are parts of America where there is federal land. And I believe strongly that
04:07we should use serious analysis and think about whether or not more of that federal land should
04:09be allocated towards housing. I will just say, if we do allocate it towards housing,
04:14let's figure out a way to get as much housing on it as possible. And I think things like
04:18large-scale manufactured housing is one way of doing that.
04:21Thank you. I couldn't agree more. And that's why a piece of legislation that I have introduced
04:24in another committee is a Lands Management Act, Clark County, particularly focuses on
04:30how we get more of that federal land for our use for economic development, but also
04:34for housing. That is unique, by the way, to the Western states. Most of my colleagues
04:39don't have to come to the legislature to pass legislation to get land for housing. We do.
04:44And so I appreciate your comments around there as well.
04:48And then, Ms. Willis, thank you. One final thing, and let me just stress the federal
04:53home loan banks. I think there's a role for them to play. And it's not a new role. It's
04:57one that is in their original charter that they're required to participate in, which
05:01is this idea that they are supposed to and obligated to think about how they invest in
05:08housing and economic development in our communities.
05:12And Ms. Willis, do you think federal home loan banks can do more to support housing?
05:17Sure, yes. I would say that we need every use of every resource available to address
05:26the affordable housing crisis and homelessness crisis. And I really do applaud you for looking
05:32at common sense ways to do that and to increase those resources. And we would certainly love
05:38to continue working with you and your team and your staff to ensure that those new resources
05:43better serve extremely low income households. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.