Chairman Williams: “Building the Future: How Small Home Builders are Closing America’s Housing Gap”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House Committee on Small Business is holding a hearing titled "Building the Future: How Small Home Builders are Closing America's Housing Gap."

Chairman Roger Williams' opening statement as prepared for delivery:

Good morning and welcome to today's hearing titled, "Building the Future: How Small Home Builders are Closing America's Housing Gap."

I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today and for lending their time and expertise to this important conversation.

Homeownership remains a cornerstone of the American dream. Homeownership represents more than just a roof over your head. It's the foundation of personal stability and freedom, and a place where families are formed, children are raised, and memories are made. It's where much of America's small business activity begins, with millions of entrepreneurs launching and operating businesses from their homes. Roughly half of all new businesses start in the home.

But that dream, for too many Americans, feels increasingly out of reach.

Our nation is facing a serious supply and affordability challenge. Today, more than half of American households cannot afford a $300,000 home.

When housing construction slows and housing becomes unattainable, communities stagnate, growth slows, and young families are priced out. Main Streets across the country feel the consequences as fewer people are able to plant roots, start businesses, and invest in their neighborhoods.

Amid these challenges, small home builders have become essential. They are often the most agile, responsive, and innovative builders, willing to meet the moment.

Across the country, small home builders are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in housing delivery. Whether through modular or manufactured housing, or emerging methods like 3-D printed construction, small home builders are reimagining how homes are built from concept to completion. These innovations offer real promise.

By reshaping our approach to housing construction, these innovations can deliver faster construction timelines, lower material costs, reduced waste, and greater efficiency in bringing homes to market.

Yet, despite this momentum, significant barriers remain for small home builders across the country.

Key challenges, such as over-regulation and access to capital, continue to drive up home costs and constrain supply. In some cases, as much as 40 percent of the cost of multifamily home development is tied not to brick and mortar, but to navigating layers of compliance across local, state, and federal requirements.

At a time when so many families are struggling to find an affordable place to live, we must ask hard questions about whether our current system is helping us meet the moment. Because often, the solutions already exist in the ingenuity of builders and entrepreneurs across this country.

What they need is the space to build, the clarity to plan, and the freedom to innovate so they can deliver the homes Americans urgently need.

Local officials across the country are beginning to realize this.

Needless to say, wherever local regulations have been loosened, like in Austin, Texas, the housing market has boomed.

As you'll hear from our witnesses today, small business home builders are continuing to press forward despite these barriers. But it is time to stop hamstringing our best and brightest.

When small home builders are constrained, the effects ripple far beyond the housing market. Other industries feel the pressure, local economies lose momentum, and worker mobility becomes restricted.

Housing is a driver of economic growth, and when workers cannot find affordable homes near job centers, employers struggle to recruit and retain talent, productivity suffers, and economic expansion slows. A shortage of housing does not just limit where people live. It also limits where businesses can grow, where workers can move, and how strongly local economies can compete.

As a Committee, it is our responsibility to look at the challenges facing small home builders and bring those obstacles to light with clarity and purpose.

It is also our duty to empower the people who build America to do what they do best. Our role is to ensure that this Committee is a partner in progress, not a roadblock to it.

Just yesterday, the Ranking Member and I, along with our colleagues, voted to pass the House-led bipartisan housing package out of this chamber.

We need to continue work together to ensure that small home builders can compete, innovate, and deliver the housing this country is counting on.

Thank you all again for joining us today. I look forward to the conversation ahead.

I now yield to our Ranking Member from New York, Mrs. Velázquez.

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