[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 37 (Friday, March 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2724-S2725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Bennett):
  S. 1877. A bill to remove barriers to the provision of affordable 
housing for all Americans; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs.


           the affordable housing barrier removal act of 1998

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, In Oregon and across America, people are 
starting to think that ``affordable housing'' is the biggest oxymoron 
since ``jumbo shrimp''. Decent houses have become unaffordable for many 
working moderate-income families. Mr. President, today I am introducing 
the ``Affordable Housing Barrier Removal Act.'' This bill encourages 
all governments to streamline regulations to help bring home ownership 
within the reach of middle class families who can only dream of it 
today.

  The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says that 
housing is affordable if all costs--mortgage, utilities, property taxes 
and insurance--consume no more than 30 percent of household gross 
income. Yet in Clackamas County, Oregon, for example, the median family 
income is $49,600, while the average cost of a house is $200,000. This 
makes it virtually impossible for many people, especially young 
families, to obtain all the benefits of home ownership.
  While many factors contribute to real estate prices, one of the main 
things that drives prices higher is the proliferation of government 
rules and fees. In Portland, fully 5 percent of the average home price 
of $155,400 comes directly from permit fees and so-called ``system 
delivery charges,'' some of which may serve worthwhile purposes, but 
should be re-examined as a total package. All of these added costs are 
eventually passed onto the buyer and often keep families from buying 
homes they could otherwise afford.
  The federal government has a role to play in the affordable housing 
debate. It can promote community goals of environmental protection, 
access for people with disabilities, and better transportation 
planning, in the context of their financial impact on home buyers.
  This bill, the Affordable Housing Barrier Removal Act of 1998, would 
do this by encouraging the formation of Barrier Removal Councils in 
every local jurisdiction that receives HUD block grants for community 
development. Mr. President, back home in Oregon I have assembled a 
housing task force to advise me on housing policies. My task force told 
me that communities need to sit down and examine the issue of 
affordable housing before the bricks are set and the mortar is poured. 
That's why these Barrier Removal Councils are important. These councils 
would be charged with taking the kind of big-picture approach that can 
identify ways to lower barriers to home ownership that overlapping and 
outdated regulations cause. In other words, we need to look at the 
forest as a whole, not just one tree at a time.
  This bill is similar to legislation I introduced last week to 
establish a special bicameral Sunset Committee in Congress to review 
every federal program every five years. Programs, regulations, and laws 
tend to pile up because legislatures at both the local and federal 
levels generally work to address specific problems, one at a time, 
often forgetting to examine the cumulative effect of prior laws. There 
is a need to set up mechanisms to examine regulations affecting 
affordable housing in their totality. This bill would also call for a 
special national conference every two years to discuss regulations that 
may be barriers, and creates a national clearinghouse to provide 
information to communities on the work being done to remove barriers in 
other parts of the country.
  This legislation will help home buyers by improving some of the ways 
the Federal Housing Administration--the lender for many middle-income 
families--operates. It allows them to make loans to more people, by 
redefining the areas they operate in. And it simplifies the convoluted 
process that FHA uses to determine the down payment that a family is 
expected to make. You should not need Bill Gates' money to afford a 
home and you should not need his math skills to figure out how much 
your house is going to cost.
  Finally, Mr. President, our bill asks the federal government to take 
the impact on home buyers into account by requiring all federal 
agencies to include a housing impact analysis, except on policies where 
there is no impact. The Housing Impact Statement focuses the attention 
of agencies on the question ``how does this policy affect home prices'' 
every time it tries to solve a problem by instituting a new regulation. 
It is always important for government at every level to understand the 
consequences of its actions. This is an effort to try to instill that 
good government philosophy into the housing area.

[[Page S2725]]

  Home ownership has always been part of the American Dream. It is 
everyone's responsibility to keep it from just being a dream for 
working families.
  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce, with Senator 
Wyden, the Affordable Housing Barrier Removal Act of 1998. According to 
the National Association of Home Builders, housing compromises 12 
percent of the economy of the United States and the housing 
construction and remodeling industries employ approximately 2 million 
people each year. However, housing costs continue to rise and housing 
affordability continues to be a challenge for many American families.
  Unnecessary regulations contribute significantly to the costs of 
housing. Layers of excessive and unnecessary regulation imposed by all 
levels of government--federal, state, and local--can add 20 to 35 
percent to the cost of a new home.
  Mr. President, the removal of regulatory burdens is essential to 
increasing the home ownership rate in the United States. Home ownership 
is the cornerstone of family security, stability, and prosperity. 
Congress has the responsibility to do all that it can to encourage and 
promote policies that increase homeownership.
  Mr. President, it is for these reasons that Senator Wyden and I 
introduce the Barriers bill today. This bipartisan bill has three major 
goals. First, the bill require federal agencies to evaluate any new 
rule or regulations to determine if they have an impact on the cost of 
housing. Second, the bill will encourage states and localities to bring 
together all the parties involved in the production of housing and 
those who regulate them to discuss barriers and how to remove them. 
Third, the bill will remove outdated requirements in the Federal 
Housing Administration's single-family mortgage insurance program to 
make the program more efficient.
  In addition to the major goals of the legislation, the Barriers bill 
will authorize the United States Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) to become more involved in comprehensive efforts to 
encourage barrier removal activities. As the federal entity that 
oversees our national housing policy, HUD must be actively involved in 
strategies and activities to remove regulatory burdens to produce more 
affordable housing.
  Mr. President, while there is no doubt regulations are necessary to 
protect our workers and our environment, there must be a commonsense 
approach to relief from excessive regulatory burdens that impact other 
sectors of the economy. I look forward to the input from my other 
colleagues and others involved in the housing industry about this 
legislation. I believe it opens an important and timely dialogue, and I 
commend Senator Wyden for the leadership he is showing on this issue.
                                 ______