Letter to Congressional Leadership on the Importance of Negotiating on Housing Legislation

By SBE Council at 24 March, 2026, 2:20 pm

The Honorable Mike Johnson The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries

Speaker of the House Minority Leader

U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable John Thune The Honorable Chuck Schumer

Majority Leader Minority Leader

United States Senate United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510

Dear Speaker Johnson, Minority Leader Jeffries, Majority Leader Thune, and Minority Leader Schumer:

On behalf of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council), I write to urge House and Senate leadership to move expeditiously to negotiate on comprehensive housing legislation. For entrepreneurs and small businesses in both high-cost regions and ex-urban areas alike, housing affordability and availability is not only a quality-of-life issue, but a workforce and competitiveness challenge that affects economic development, local hiring, and employee retention. The housing shortfall is driving up costs for families and constraining growth and opportunity for the millions of small businesses that build, supply, finance, and support housing development.

As a reminder, the housing industry ecosystem is dominated by small businesses. The following sectors are dominated by firms with less than 100 employees, and the share of firms remains significant in businesses with 20 or fewer employees as noted in the data across subsectors: residential building construction (97.2%); plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors (89.9%); building finishing contractors (88.3%); foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors (91%); architectural services (92.2%); landscape architectural services (94%); surveying and mapping (91.5%); interior design services (98.1%), among others.

SBE Council has expressed strong support for the House-passed housing legislation, which reflects a framework focused on reducing cost barriers and red tape, encouraging investment, and expanding supply. We are concerned, however, that provisions in the Senate-passed bill restricting institutional investment in housing markets could unintentionally undermine the goals of more abundant and affordable housing. Institutional investors are an important source of capital for multifamily housing, build-to-rent communities, and large-scale residential development. Limiting this investment risks slowing the pace of construction at a time when more supply is needed. For small businesses across the housing ecosystem, reduced capital flows translate directly into fewer projects, fewer contracts, and fewer jobs.

Equally important, the Senate legislation does not include sensible reforms to support community banks, which play a critical role in financing small-scale residential construction and local development projects. Community banks provide a significant share of construction and development lending, particularly in rural, suburban, and underserved communities. Ensuring that these institutions have the regulatory flexibility and capacity to lend is essential to enabling small builders and entrepreneurs to bring new housing projects to market.

Taken together, restricting institutional capital while not addressing the need to strengthen community bank participation risks creating a bigger financing gap that will hinder housing production. At a time when housing affordability is already under significant pressure, policies that constrain capital formation will ultimately make it more difficult and expensive to build.

We respectfully urge Congressional leadership to prioritize negotiations that produce a final housing package that:

● Builds on a pro-supply framework that reduces barriers and encourages development.

● Avoids unnecessary restrictions on private capital.

● Includes meaningful reforms to strengthen community banks.

SBE Council stands ready to work with you to advance policies that expand opportunity, support entrepreneurs, and deliver more housing for American families. Thank you for your leadership and attention to this critical issue.

Sincerely,

Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO

cc: Chairman French Hill, Ranking Chair Maxine Waters, House Financial Services Committee

Chairman Tim Scott, Ranking Member Elzabeth Warren, Senate Banking Committee