VIDEO: Lowering the Cost of Housing in Nebraska
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) highlighted his efforts to lower the cost of housing in Nebraska. This includes supporting the21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which includes the Streamlining Rural Housing Act to enhance efficiency and lower costs for housing development.
“Here in the Senate, I continue to bring this Nebraska solution to the rest of America,” said Ricketts.
Ricketts also discussed several additional bills included in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act:
- The Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act to streamline NEPA reviews for development on infill sites
- The Improving Housing Access Act to improve housing quality and accessibility for seniors and those living with disabilities
- The Housing for America’s Middle-Class Act to expand homeownership opportunities for middle-income earners
- The Rural Housing Service Reform Act to improve existing loans, grants, and rental assistance in rural communities
- The VA Home Loan Awareness Act and Veterans Affairs Loan Informed Disclosure (VALID) Act to better inform veterans of the VA Home Loan program and make veterans’ housing programs more accessible
“All these are included here to be able to help us cut the regulatory red tape, make housing more affordable, and be able to help reduce the cost for Nebraskans and Americans across the country,” said Ricketts. “We have passed this out of our side. The House has passed their side. Right now, we’re working to take the best of both those bills to be able to get something that we will again both vote on and then send to the President’s desk. This is again how we are working in this Senate to be able to reduce the cost of living for people across the country.”
Watch the video here.
TRANSCRIPT
“Nebraska is the best place in the world.
“Nebraska is what America is supposed to be.
“And just recently, US News just said Omaha, our largest city, is the second-best place in the country for recent college grads.
“This is a wonderful recognition of what great quality of life we have in Omaha, and as we welcome all the new college grads, it also reminds us that we’ve got more work to do with regard to housing.
“Housing is something that we need to make more affordable for Americans.
“Just 10 years ago, the average age of a new homeowner was 31 years old.
“Today, the average age of a new homeowner is 40.
“About 25% of the cost of a new home is regulation and red tape, and actually, for an apartment building, it’s even worse — it’s 40%.
“I was talking to an apartment builder in Omaha, and he described to me how when he first got into building apartment buildings, he could build an apartment for about $15,000 and now the cost is well over $200,000.
“Now, this is not a new issue.
“When I was governor of the great state of Nebraska, this was something we worked on as well.
“In fact, I worked with my legislature to introduce the Rural Workforce Housing Act.
“We put about $7 million into a grant program, which allowed rural communities to be able to partner with developers to be able to help build homes or apartment buildings.
“The way it often worked is that the community would create a low interest fund that developers would apply to, oftentimes using it, for example, as a bridge loan, build the housing development, and then pay off the loan, so the money could be recycled back into the next loan to help build more houses.
“It was very successful, and we ultimately added more money into that program, and then created the Middle Income Housing Fund as well to be able to help out cities like Omaha.
“Here in the Senate, I continue to bring this Nebraska solution to the rest of America.
“We are working on the 21st Century ROAD Housing Act.
“In fact, this is something that has passed both the Senate Banking Committee and on the House side as well, and I want to commend Chairman Scott for the great work he has done, working with both sides of the aisle to receive their input to create the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
“This is a bill that will help cut that regulatory red tape I was describing about earlier.
“It includes several of the bills that I have introduced, including the Streamline Rural Housing Act.
“So this bill, in particular, what it does is requires Housing and Urban Development and USDA to work together.
“Both these agencies will have grant money to help build homes, and a home will be able to take money from both of those, but what happens is they both have their own permitting and review process, which often will be done in serial and creates more regulatory red tape and bureaucracy.
“What my bill does is require them to work together to streamline that process to be able to make it faster. And this is something that again is part of the theme of many of the bills that we put together into this 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to be able to make the process easier.
“If we can build more homes faster and there’s more homes available, that will help bring down the cost of housing.
“It’s a pretty simple concept.
“In addition to the Streamlining Rural Housing Act, I’ve got a number of bills that are also included in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, including the Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act.
“This is one that Mike Flood, who’s the First District Congressman from Nebraska, brought up in the House.
“Also, the Improving Housing Access Act, Housing for America’s Middle Class Act, Rural Housing Service Reform Act, which I’m a co-sponsor of.
“All these are included here to be able to help us cut the regulatory red tape, make housing more affordable, and be able to help reduce the cost for Nebraskans and Americans across the country.
“We have passed this out of our side.
“The House has passed their side.
“Right now, we’re working to take the best of both those bills to be able to get something that we will again both vote on and then send to the President’s desk.
“This is again how we are working in this Senate to be able to reduce the cost of living for people across the country.
“I’m very proud to be able to work with my colleagues on the Road to 21st Century Housing Act, and look forward to being able to get this to the President’s desk for signature.”