ICYMI: Kennedy in The Advocate: New law aims to help make home ownership easier

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) penned this op-ed in The Advocate explaining how the 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which included his Build Now Act, will help address the affordable housing crisis in America by increasing the supply of new homes.

Key excerpts of the op-ed are below:

"When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can't, it's primarily because they are worried about the cost of living in America. And the largest expense most Americans face each month is housing."

. . .

"While it is painful to watch the incompetence in Los Angeles, Congress does not control local regulations or zoning policies-and that's a good thing. A housing policy that works well in New Orleans may not work in New York City, and that's okay. Washington's one-size-fits-all policies have a long history of making matters worse.

"But Congress should not reward cities and local governments that are making life unaffordable for American families. The federal government has many tools at its disposal to incentivize good policies and punish the bad."

. . .

"This idea turned into my Build Now Act, and it just became law as part of the larger 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.

"Here's how it will work: Cities that fall below the national median rate of home building will lose 10% of their CBDG funding. The funding we take away from cities that fail to build will then go into a big pot that we will proportionally distribute to the cities that outpace the national median rate of home building. Cities that face natural disasters or other hardships will receive an exemption, and their CBDG funding won't change at all.

"It's both a reward to cities that increase their supplies of homes and a penalty for those who enjoy burdensome regulations more than affordable housing. It's a carrot and a stick-and it could unlock the American dream of homeownership for the families that have struggled to afford a place of their own.

"The only way to bring down the cost of a new home is to increase our housing supply. I don't care how cities do it, but they better get serious about cutting red tape if they want to keep the federal funding they have grown to love. The days of rewarding bad policies that make life too expensive for American families are over."

Read Kennedy's op-ed here.