Warren, Kennedy Introduce New Bipartisan 'Build Now Act' to Incentivize Communities to Increase Housing Supply

Warren, Kennedy Introduce New Bipartisan "Build Now Act" to Incentivize Communities to Increase Housing Supply

Bill will be included in first bipartisan Banking Committee housing markup in nearly two decades

Bill follows Warren-Kennedy exchange during March Committee hearing on housing

Bill text here (Sec 206)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), released their new bipartisan bill the "Build Now Act" that will incentivize communities to build more housing. The bill will be included in the housing package the Committee will mark up on Tuesday, along with other bills to boost housing supply, preserve and expand housing for veterans and in rural areas, reduce homelessness, and more.

"Americans are suffering under sky-high housing prices caused by a worsening housing shortage. The Federal government should use the tools at our disposal to reward communities that are taking bold action to build more housing and reduce families' biggest monthly expense," said Ranking Member Warren. "It's time for Congress to act - and this bipartisan proposal is a call to action to communities across the country to build housing now."

"In my book, homeownership shouldn't be a pipe dream for the average American family. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me. Government overregulation has brought homebuilding to a grinding halt and left ordinary people waving in the wind as existing home prices went through the roof. I'm proud to introduce the Build Now Act to discourage pointless roadblocks and incentivize cities to help make the American Dream possible again," said Senator Kennedy.

The Build Now Act:

• Will encourage housing construction by boosting localities' Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding when they improve their track record on building more housing, and adjusting it modestly when they do not.
• Will provide communities with a two-year grace period to take action and improve their track record on building more housing.
• Focuses on driving down costs and rewarding success in communities with high demand for housing units and low supply. Excluded from this pilot are communities with low housing demand and signs of economic distress, have experienced recent natural disasters, or do not have control over zoning and permitting.
• Using Census data, communities will be measured against their own prior performance, ensuring a fair standard is applied to communities with distinct housing constraints. Communities that are accelerating home building would receive a boost in their CDBG funding. Those that fail to improve housing growth and drive down costs would experience a small CDBG reduction.
• Communities that HUD has notified are at risk of experiencing a cut to their CDBG funding will have access to HUD guidance on how to improve their performance.

Full bill text here (Sec 206)

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