Housing for the 21st Century Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, housing is vital in every State and in every one of our communities. As of 2025, my home State of Michigan was short more than 141,000 homes, leaving many qualified home buyers on the sidelines.

The Housing for the 21st Century Act will help increase home production, which to date has failed to keep pace with rising demand, leading to more affordability challenges for all Americans. Additionally, today's legislation rightly focuses on modernizing housing policies while increasing affordable housing and accelerating development.

``Affordability'' is the keyword here. I have a professional background in construction, housing development, and home sales. My own family has been involved for over three generations in construction. Now, my cousins have their ready-mix concrete company, and I have our aggregate businesses and home development.

I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, we have seen firsthand how government at every level, local, State, and Federal, has put up barrier after barrier to affordable housing. In fact, based on recent analysis, the average home in Michigan costs almost double to build than what the average family can afford.

The Housing for the 21st Century Act would help reduce Federal barriers to building housing by expanding the Federal and local housing systems. Now, the American people need the same level of commitment from their State and local governments, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this well-crafted, bipartisan bill.

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