Transcripts For CSPAN2 Senate Hearing On Affordable Housing Access 20240713

This important discussion. Joining us today or i agree matthews, interim executive director of the Housing Authority of columbia, South Carolina. Mark, president and chief executive officer of the Skyline Champion Corporation and peggy bailey Vice President for housing policy at the center on budget and policy priority is for purposes of todays hearing they are focused on examining three bipartisan piece of legislation in particular that have been introduced in the 116th congress. S. 2160 the overt act was introduced in july by senator scott and menendez and has the support of five republicans and five democrats on the committee. S. 1804, the manufactured housing modernization act was introduced in june and has five bipartisan cosponsors including senator cortez, scott kramer and smith and hr 4300 of the fostering stable housing opportunities acthich has bipartisan interest in the senate and is moving quickly through the house of representatives on a strong partisan basis. The alert act would require the installation and maintenance of Carbon Monoxide alarms and most federally assisted housing and any dwelling unit containing a fuelburninfuel burning applian, fireplace, furnace or in close garage. Currently the majority of the programs have no such requirement despite similar requirements in 37 states and the district of columbia. At least 13 individuals living in federally assisted housing have died due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning since 2003 including four in the past year. In april secretary carson announced they would undertake the process to establish such a requirement across the Public Housing rental assistance programs. This bill would also require the secretary to provide guidance to the agencies on how they can better educate dependence on Health Hazards and home. The manufactured housing modernization act would provide confirmation to state and local jurisdictions that receive the fund them through programs like the Community Development block grant or Home Investment Partnerships Program that manufactured housing is an eligible according to the Co Affordable option communities can receive public import construction and repair. In other words local jurisdictions with a broad menu of options available as they seek to meet the unique Affordable Housing in their community. The foster opportunities act was passed out of the committee in september and a weights for floor consideration. It would authorize two allocated vouchers under the Family Unification Program were more directly to any Public Housing agency to request an application in order to provide timely assistance to an eligible youth that is aging out of foster care in the risk of losing their safety net overnight. The bill would also extend the length of the family unification voucher by up to 24 months for eligible youth that are either participating in the families of such a program, working toward a degree or are participating in the career pathway. These individuals would be available for any Additional Support in connection with Housing Assistance programs of the agency that provides the culture. I commend the lid and secretary carson for their work and a member of the issues that we will discuss today including the forthcoming rulemaking on the alarm is into the new foster youth independence initiative. Each of these three bills we are examining today have been thoughtfully put together and have strong bipartisan support. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses on these proposals and also look forward to working with members of the committee to identify other items of bipartisan support in the Affordable Housing space and elsewhere. And we think often of her. We have often said the housing part of this committees name doesnt get the attention that it should. Todays hearing is an important but small step to give Affordable Housing towards the crisis we have in giving it the attention it deserves. Right now 11 million households spend more than half their income with housing that is one out of four people who rent seven of the ten fastest jobs to afford a onebedroom apartment. Its not a rule or small city probably hits every community in our country. The Trump Administration is making it worse proposing deep cuts advocating for a Housing Finance system to make mortgages more expensive and harder to get. To take steps to address the challenges we face looking at the Bipartisan Legislation with the modernization act and to require them in this manufactured housing to address the Development Needs with federal grants home to 22 Million People. And a lot of them in my state of ohio. And responding to the two tragic deaths of Carbon Monoxide poisoning on gas poisoning and assisted living nobody should fear that their homo poison that it would require Carbon Monoxide detectors in federally federal units this would take a step to ensure that everyone no matter their income can be safe well discuss that Housing Needs of young people across the country. 20000 people age out every year. Think of the challenges that they face. You are trying to find a job, enroll in school, and many face housing instability and one third will experience homelessness at some point during this transition. Jeremy shared with my office he aged out at 18 with no permanent home entered college found himself homeless during college breaks. He persevered and became an advocate for others because no young people should experience what they did. Setting out to solve the problem put forth the ideas of a foster care alumni could have a place to call a home this legislation from former foster youth. Congresswoman dean and then we introduce the bill in the senate to provide Additional Resources and for those Child Welfare agencies to Work Together. This is just the first step Carbon Monoxide is not the only way people are poisoned in their homes there are many Health Hazards across this country especially an old Housing Stock in appalachia and severe housing sort shortages we face expiring assistance contracts and a growing need for those options. From all sides and corporations are not paying workers enough to create with this in a housing and urban affairs. I will indicate right now i may have to leave to go to a vote in the Judiciary Committee on a markup we are holding for unfortunately we double up the hearings quite regularly. I apologize. Now we will proceed to your opening statement. And then to wrap up your initial comments so senators have time for their questions and i always remind my colleagues Pay Attention to your five minute time as well. Chairman and Ranking Member and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify during todays critically important hearing on the executive director the Housing Authority of the city of Columbia South carolina. And then to provide Housing Assistance over 6000 families. And im here to support the alert legislation to assure those that with federally assisted housing are safe and for section 811 Public Housing in section eight housing in accordance with fire code. And one that lost their life as a result of copper Carbon Monoxide poisoning at the Benedict Court Public Housing community in carolina. Our deepest sympathies are with the witherspoon and roper families we are here in memory of these individuals. January 18 following the death of Mister Weatherspoon and mister roper over 400 court tenants were evacuated. An emergency relocation plan was implemented to secure replacement housing for the families to the greatest extent possible the hardships faced by the families were permanently displaced. Columbia housing to meet the individual knees needs of each family will have the option to be temporarily housed in area hotels and took permanent housing was found. Health and safety remains our highest priority we partnered with South Carolina association for social workers to provide Free Behavioral Health sessions to offset day to day stressors with emergency relocation. Wraparound services were also provided by city and county government to have the associated cost like Laundry Service and transportation to places of worship, doctors appointments, food preparation and afterschool activities cash and give cards of volunteer hours provided by colleges and universities. Priorities and sororities and faithbased communities and private citizens. After emergency relocation columbia housing worked diligently to ensure the impact of families was quickly moved to permanent housing that was provided by other available Public Housing units and housing choice vouchers to secure permanent housing in the open market in the effort to eliminate any burden on the families per call cost associated with the move was paid by columbia housing. We are grateful for the support received and additionally to install Carbon Monoxide detectors and occupied Public Housing units and require Carbon Monoxide detectors in section eight units. The legislation makes it possible for other authorities across the country to do the same. It is the desire of the city of columbia to transform the community built in 1939 consisting of 244 townhome units and 26 buildings on 15 acres adjacent to historically black educational institutions. Unfortunately like many other Public Housing property we do not have the Financial Resources to move forward with the redevelopment. Today an estimated 70 billiondollar backlog for the hub Public Housing to continue to grow at approximately three. 5 billion per year. Additional funding is needed to address these issues. And members of the committee and to testify before the committee to provide perspective on the sealer act of 2019 it is my pleasure to answer any question questions. I am president and ceo of skyline champion. We have 65 years of homebuilding experience with 38 manufacturing facilities. Skyline champion employs over 7000 employees in one of the largest homebuilders in north america. Producing wide writing manufactured and modular homes and modular buildings pico on behalf of the manufactured Housing Institute with the board of directors in the vice chairman the National Modular housing council. The only National Trade organization that represents all segments of the manufactured industry. With Affordable Housing from the United States the only bill to Safety Standards today 22 Million People with manufactured homes in 2018 producing nearly 100,000 homes are roughly 10 percent of singlefamily heart housing starts. Although generally priced above 200,000 manufactured homes are below 100,000. Manufactured housing accounts for 80 percent of new home starts under 150,000. My testimony today is focused on senate bill 18 oh four the modernization act of 2019 to strongly support to commend the senators to come together to introduce this bipartisan bill. Requires localities of help Housing Trust fund and the homeless funds to appropriately include residential manufactured housing in their comprehensive Housing Affordability strategies and Community Development plans referred to as consolidated plans brick adoption of legislation breaks down barriers for Affordable Housing by increasing the focus on manufactured housing. As you know manufactured homes are the range across of communities from rural areas to metropolitan areas unfortunately what we see nationwide is a growing number of state and local restrictions that discriminate against people and families who seek the dream of homeownership with manufactured housing calling attention to these discriminatory practices in the september Housing Finance reform planmac policies that exclude or dis incentivize the utilization of manufactured homes can exacerbate Housing Affordability. In todays age we dont need to exasperate the problem of Housing Affordability but we need to solve the problem in the country. Eighteen oh four is crucially important to this because localities locate their funds which nationally are four. 5 billion per year based on the annual plans and in turn on the comprehensive plans locally to incentivize them to use Affordable Housing the best form in the country of unsubsidized manufactured housing is critical to this my written testimony includes other suggestions for the committee with overcoming zoning and land plan policies to prohibit the placement of manufactured products. Had has preemption or authority under the construction Safety Standards act statutory mandate to intervene where state or local regulatory requirements are inconsistent with federal construction standards for manufactured homes. While had occasionally uses its authority to pursue cases i would assess and encourage head to better reinforce this authority to galvanize their obligation to facilitate the availability of affordable home homes. I think the committee today for your invitation to provide the opportunity to share ideas how we can prioritize the importance of manufactured housing when it comes to addressing the shortage in crisis of the affordable crisis in the country. I thank you and look forward to answering your questions. Members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today i am Vice President for budget policy priorities a Nonprofit Institute that conducts research on a range of federal and state policies affecting low and moderate income families. We believe congress can take three steps to improve access to housing and support before leaving fast loan foster care. First stable housing opportunity act of 2019 which was introduced by senators brown and grassley and has the support of over 100 organizations representing 55000 foster youth across the country this work is spearheaded by an Organization Led by foster care alumni who not only support the legislation but play a central role in designing and drafting the bill the proposed funding increases of the Family Unification Program the foster youth that is included in both the house and the senate in the House Appropriations bill and to protect lgbtq youth to ensure access to housing and social Services Support 75 percent of households eligible for assistance dont get it due to limited funding families may wait years to receive assistance in an overwhelming demand prompts most to stop taking applications usually foster care is vulnerable and are at risk of the 400,000 children in foster care 20000 age out each year the adults have limited or no emotional support and can struggle to continue their education and if they get jobs which most of them do they are paid low wages some population base additional burdens black or hispanic are overrepresented in foster care facing discrimination to access educational support in lgbtq youth are overrepresented face unique challenges like job discrimination and trauma that can be harder to overcome if they are uncertain how to afford a place to live one out of four foster youth report they have been homeless at least once during the prior two years and one out of three by age 26. Those agencies with federal funding and oversight stand in for parents who cant control on care for their children and that validates most American Parents contribute to their children in various ways including paying for housing well past 18 or 21 it isnt unreasonable to think foster youth these similar help those who have left foster care are eligible for housing but there is a severe shortage overall the department of housing and urban development makes a small pool available to stay in housing agencies to help at risk youth but the geographic vouchers is limited only one out of every eight of the 22 housing agencies can administer them and nearly 20000 vouchers in use right now go to only 1000 former foster youth understandably most go to families to help prevent the need to move a child from home to foster care or to help families reunite hr 4300 the House Financial Services committee passed unanimously would make vouchers more effective for foster youth and authorize head to make vouchers available to every agency that now administers vouchers as long as the agency meets Program Requirements and funds are available also encouraging housing urgencies and Child Welfare agencies to connect those supports to allow them to become independent and use those virtues are vouchers up to five years they are working or engaged in educational support and provide supplemental funding for housing agencies to support these partnerships in addition congress should pass the 20 million increase of the house and Senate Versions of the House Appropriations bill to expand vouchers for risk foster youth to enable more than 2000 young people who have left foster care and at risk of homelessness to live in stable housing also urging the administration to withdraw department hhs regulations to rollback equal access for lgbtq people putting them in former foster youth at risk of sleeping on the street or taking dangerous steps to access housing thank you for the opportunity to testify and i am happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you mister Ranking Member good morning to the panel and thank you for being here on this topic. We will take a moment to give special thanks to miss Ivory Matthews joining us from South Carolina per recommend her for hard work and dedication to improve the lives of my constituents in South Carolina her amazing work in greenville to that tragic situation in columbia im confident with her at the helm our families are safer thank you for your expertise to leadership in your passion to help those who are most vulnerable in our society this was a tragedy for a community in South Carolina we like to honor those who tragically lost their lives that was sadly and entirely preventable death as a result of Carbon Monoxide poisoning this tragedy only galvanize my need to ensure we are committed to protect our most vulnerable citizens in the 239 other families at the Public Housing community in columbia thats why i worked with my colleague senator menendez to find a bipartisan solution to put a stop to any more deaths like those in South Carolina or pennsylvania, oklahoma virginia, michigan, indiana and tennessee. Thats over 14 deaths in Public Housing since 2003. Fourteen deaths too many also to secretary carson and his staff with their commitment to address the problem moving forward with the program to help the Public Housing authorities to purchase co detectors. Co poisoning can happen quickly without warning resulting in an entirely preventable death if measures are taken we have a patchwork of state laws and regulations when it comes to Carbon Monoxide prevention in utah the state that seen a 25 percent increase in poisoning just last year only new Residential Structures are required to have co2 detectors how word bill help to close the loophole with our federally assisted housing to stop the silent killer . Thank you senator scott. The co alert act will save lives. The senate should pass this bill. Especially since had has made it clear it is waiting on congressional action it is important for our industry to have those mandatory guidelines in law so no other Housing Authority has to experience this tragedy as we did. Thank you for that. But in the last two weeks there were two instances of Carbon Monoxide poisoning in detroit. We have to stop the silent killer. Leslie to bring to your attention senator cortez master roseville affordable homeownership can come in many forms residential manufactured housing is one of those it is a safe housing option for 22 million working families in South Carolina it is important as every one out of five homes are prefabricated the bill would open for more Affordable Housing options for families across the country can you explain how manufactured homes fill the Important Role with more Affordable Housing as the head report indicates is a very popular seat for manufactured housing it is about 20 percent of the homes are manufactured. What it does is allow us to supply the affordable price point the average bill today is going for 294,000. The average manufactured home is 72000. Its a big difference in fighting for affordability progress the end of the day this bill allows us and then to give people the choice. Thank you for being here today. To help the most vulnerable in society. I have questions and i appreciate the number of you that mentioned on the panel the stable housing opportunities act. You outlined your testimony for use at age out foster care. Walkthrough what this bill will mean and why it makes their lives better. Housing as we know is the foundation for school and work and to lead a healthy life given that these youth often have low wages make set affordability gap bigger for them. Otherwise they could have years spent homeless or may be jail or prison or other bad outcomes we know what happens when people are risk of homelessness. This bill would give use to have a safe and stable place to live to build their futures. You mentioned the challenges facing lgbtq people so how will this bill overcome some of those challenges they face quick. Like with youth in general housing will play a huge role to make the first steps to enter into adulthood black and hispanic youth that are all overrepresented in the foster care system is also overrepresented in homelessness and jails and prisons and face disparity when trying to Access Health Services Housing plays a huge role to reverse all of those and this bill will give them that assistance that they need to avoid those challenges in the future. We know that fewer than 300 Public Housing housing agencies have access that target foster youth so how is this used in your communities quick. We partner with South Carolina department of services and nonprofit organizations to house individual youth that are in foster care. For many years it is a constant struggle to help find housing and resources because we dont have the dedicated Resources Available like what is approved in the bill that miss piggy mentioned and it is important to have a bill like this to have those resources to help those families to transition and stabilize their lives housing is the first part as they transition to adulthood so that is tremendously beneficial in our communities. We know that social determinant of stable housing and people of low income and people of color infant mortality rates are a little higher so with your background with the intersection of housing and health, talk about how stable housing impacts peoples health. Its important in thinking of health not just someones physical and primary health needs but also Mental Health and Substance Abuse that housing helps people be able to access the doctor if they have a Chronic Health condition they can store medication or have access to healthy food. In just the stability to know that you can pay for your place to live and avoid homelessness is a comfort that so many families are not able to have. Those that experience homelessness are exposed to severe weather, cant take care of infections and must stand in mind that shelters to have access to the shelter so cannot engage in services and work. So housing is the foundation for everything with improved healthcare and also people experiencing homelessness access emergency room care and are over institutionalized which is expensive for the Healthcare System without access to housing all of these outcomes are experienced in the health care system. Thank you mister chairman and for agreeing to testify today also my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who wrote the legislation that we consider today. Before i begin my questions i want to point out the fact it has been 534 days since the last markup on this committee that only considered the sify s process. Going all the way back to the last nonsecurity bill it has been 689 days. This is unfortunate because the bill discussed on both sides i really think republicans and democrats could agree and when it comes to Housing Affordability it has been challenging to find a bipartisan approach we can get to to make those changes that are necessary if you want to fix what is going on in fha. I truly believe reform is critical but will take a bipartisan effort. Everyone here is well aware fha is broken and then to become to bipartisan agreement and why we challenge all of us and it will take a bipartisan effort and we are more than willing to work with anyone to find that. Looking at the important ideas to the market process it will only move the needle so far and then to have those issues of the finance reform. Congress coming together to solve major problems isnt a foreign concept looking at most states with south dakota as an example they look at every single bill that comes before them they pass the budget and then now they look at the laws they created. That same type of attitude has to be shown within congress. Here on the Senate Banking committee we have had lenience in the past but for the bipartisan work of the Housing Finance reform act better known as johnson but it has been six years since weve had that discussion that would be an excellent place to start on gse reform i know there are many ideas for amendments i hope it would include Johnson Crapo on a future markup. I know my colleagues have already had a chance to ask some questions about the legislation before us but i would like to ask a followup question. From a high level perspective what are the additional steps you would like to see this committee taking to promote Housing Affordability. Its almost like the open mic opportunity back from your perspective show us what you like to see in terms of options to help Affordable Housing. What we would like to see first and foremost is a major expansion of the housing Choice Voucher Program. That has been shown to be extraordinarily effective to stabilize families and individuals in their housing in a efficient way. Sometimes we think about solving the Affordable Housing crisis it is entirely for homelessness but it is not. That is part of the problem but overall many people live they just have a hard time making ends meet. So if we could make sure everyone who needs it can afford their housing and the housing choice voucher is a way to do that that would go a long way to solve the crisis. Senator, thank you for the question. They are two things that come to mind immediately. First i would encourage gse to do what they have put in writing for the creation of a secondary market for lending that secondary market will create a more competitive financing environment for Affordable Housing. A manufactured home is a cheaper alternative and singlefamily housing or an apartment. I will run out of time but would you like to make any comments quick. Yes. I particularly support the tools that are already in existence like the rental renewal with public and private partnerships to expand more Affordable Housing. We know there isnt enough dollars to exist to allow us to address all Capital Needs but any of that legislation bills on the table to allow for more publicprivate partnerships to expand Affordable Housing. My time has expired. Thank you very much witnesses for your testimony. I will begin and recognize senator kay hagan with great distinction and an extraordinary person. I also come at this with two perspectives as a ranking democrat on the subcommittee of appropriations and echoing senator browns comments that what they found was less than adequate with a 12 milliondollar cut including home in Public Housing. Ms. Matthews you have a lot of problems to survive on the budget. Under the leadership of senator collins speak and vote on a bipartisan basis with a strong bipartisan bill and i think all of them for that. Roughly 40 billion more indiscretion to go to Affordable Housing or homeless populations or Community Development opportunities. Our Environmental Remediation and Carbon Monoxide there is another dangerous issue which is lead exposure in Public Housing and rental housing and we can get at that. We have made progress we hope we can get more resources. I went to commend my colleagues on the legislation they have submitted that is thoughtful and important and we need to move quickly but i would be remiss with the legislation that i just introduced with senator collins to extend permanently the authorization. Since they had began planning and coordinating we have seen a reduction sense 2010 a reduction of these numbers of veterans homelessness. So i would just ask for your comments on the importance. Yes the inter Agency Counsel plays a vital role to coordinate federal agencies. I have been working on these issues almost since the creation of the Interagency Council when it started to get legs in the early 2000s and when those community should make ten year plans to end homelessness it spurred the way to rethink homelessness as the intractable problem that we can solve and the way they could do that is with veteran 78 communities have ended veterans homelessness in 30 states and without the work not only to help the v. A. Target resources but also dhs and head for that problem is exactly what the interAgency Counsel was meant to do. Thank you very much. You are right like abilene texas little rock and missouri and all those counties in mississipp mississippi, this is reaching areas and we need to deal with them and thats appropriate. Im slightly offtopic but to follow up the Housing Trust Capital Magnet Fund is a great source of resources for Affordable Housing every Community Faces in Affordable Housing crisis. If you go to the big cities like San Francisco or boston everybody is priced out of the market but now even smaller communities that includes zoning that you cannot build Affordable Housing. How important is this fund quick. Given the affordable crowd housing crisis we have every one is important but the Housing Trust fund helps to make sure we target resources to the lowest income people. What everybody doesnt understand the tax credit is great as our largest investment of Capital Resources but only makes housing affordable for those at 60 or 80 percent of Median Income in the 40000dollar range. The Housing Trust fund allows dollars to be coupled to make Units Available at lower income levels or with extremely low incomes in that 30 percent income range. Thank you for your great work very much. Thank you mister chairman for holding a hearing on these housing bills. I hope the committee will consider having other opportunities. This is one of the most critical elements of our economy and how we can do more. In the age of one bipartisanship is supposed to be dead we Work Together to introduce this lifesaving bill. Carbon monoxide is a true silent killer tasteless, colorless odorless and it only takes a few minutes of exposure to face Serious Health risks like brain damage and death. This is entirely preventable. Alarms are a proven way to alert families to a Health Threat and accessory is not a luxury but a basic lifesaving necessity in every home and that includes Public Housing. Unfortunately while federal assisted Housing Units must include smoke detectors but no we carbon for Carbon Monoxide. We require co detectors and private dwellings that federal is exempt. In 2019 for Public Housing residents died from completely preventable Carbon Monoxide posing to took place in South Carolina in the state like new jersey that requires Carbon Monoxide alarms so there is no excuse for not taking action today to save lives and had has publicly stated that Congress Needs to act. I hope our bipartisan bill adopts International Fire code standards to detect that is emerging appliances and garages in appliances as winter approaches residences will fire up their furnace it is time to follow the house and pass the co alert act. In this regard tempted with very few housing opportunities but as i just mentioned the state has Carbon Monoxide detector requirements but to Public Housing residents died in South Carolina earlier this year. In accordance with state law were there Carbon Monoxide detectors in these units quick. Senator mendez i joined the authority on july 1st 2019 and it is my understanding there were no Carbon Monoxide detectors installed in these Public Housing unit. To state officials conduct regular health and safety inspections for Carbon Monoxide detectors quick. I am not aware of any state Agency Responsible for conducting health and safety inspections. Because head doesnt inspect for Carbon Monoxide detectors because there is no federal requirement and despite state laws all four of the Carbon Monoxide related death in Public Housing this year is in the state that has some type of alarm requirement but does not inspect federal housing so it is clear we need to close the gap. Earlier this years spokesperson said congress can fix this to pass legislation to require detectors for those living in had Housing Units. I hope this hearing motivates us to do so. Do private Property Owners who decide to participate section eight Choice Voucher Program have to abide by federal health and Safety Standards with smoke alarms quick. Yes they do. Inspections are required. I ask that as a predicate than what it requiring private landlords to accept housing vouchers to comply with Carbon Monoxide alarm requirement similar to those that exist for smoke alarm and be consistent with existing practice for those who choose to participate in head programs to take those certain states of health and safety of residents quick. Yes. It seems it is a responsibility for federal dollars to go to housing that is safe for people. So your Organization States Public Housing assistance currently helps one. 9 million seniors, two. 4 Million People disabilities. Six. 3million and families of children. Isnt it important for the federal government to protect these groups of fellow citizens that are well over 10 million quick. Absolutely. Senator tester. Thank you and the chairman for having this hearing for go also the folks who are on the panel today. And i just want to note that how many folks have had had experience with the head Voucher Program works raise your hand. In your experience have adequate is that program for veterans and i have a bill to expand that other than Honorable Discharge also ptsd then they get booted out. So right now how effective is it quick. In Columbia South carolina we administer 414 had vouchers for homeless veterans. How many left over. May be four times as many. It could be expanded when you could use those vouchers to meet the needs of people who serve their country quick. Absolutely. Thank you very much this is for anybody who wants to answe answer, as the Ranking Member pointed out we have housing issues urban or rural. I in fact i would say in montana it is the biggest inhibitor that we have right now. Because there is simply no housing if you are in a real small town we have a real problem so what is the best way at the federal level cracks what can we do to encourage more housing that could be built to say this is effective it is good if theres more emphasis that can make a difference . So to utilize low Income Housing tax credits him the trust fund those are two places where investment to develop Housing Units is critically important and then as i said earlier the national Housing Trust fund was the second. And then additions to the choice voucher assistance programs are vitally important because those two programs can make sure its affordable for the lowest incom income. I will get to manufactured housing but do they utilize that low Income Housing tax credit quick. Yes so is the utilization resulted in positive impacts on the Housing Market. It certainly has spanked you fully utilize all the credits that are available. We could certainly use more. You can put them to work to be as effective as it is now quick. Absolutely. Thank you very much. It is a big problem. Mister yost you put out some figures in cosponsor of a bill i believe in what you are doing i almost bought a manufactured home they are pretty damn impressive but the numbers that you give are amazing you can build half im sorry one quarter of what you build home. So i just have to ask those figures are almost too good to be true. When you put them forth is that within the same region because a house in montana because of the price of land is far less in most cases are we comparing apples to apples cracks its not the stick built onsite homes like california versus a place like montana. As an example the figures i am quoting our National Averages but in montana for example the National Average is 294,000 with no land just the house itself now for a larger home it is 146,000 for a comparable home so manufactured housing on a pair on per square foot basis is 50 because of the process and automation versus site built which is 111 per square feet. You also gain efficiency and workforce and i would assume you have different plans you probably dont have a different plan for every house built. We have several thousand models. It also efficiency for the bulk buying from shingles to steel to lumber. Economies of scale. Sr. Can you put those in Indian Country with no housing that could really be a winwin deal and they are some Tax Advantages for you to do that i would be more than happy to help you out. Thank you. Thank you chairman and Ranking Member for your work on the desperate need for Affordable Housing you have heard it from the those voters from nevada whether its rural or urban we have been having roundtable discussions how we bring Affordable Housing. One of the areas i am focused on and sponsor is the modernization act. I want to talk a little bit about that and thank you to senator scott and smith and kramer. Like to place into the record from the following organizations the Housing Coalition and next step without objection. Im also the choral sponsor of the bill of the co alert act and i look very favorably to support hr 4300 as well. So after my discussions in my state about the need of Affordable Housing we need to pass the credit improvement act and should expect one expand the tax credit by more than 50 percent. And i have to say thank you so much for putting into perspective the distinction with the tax credit that everything has to work in conjunction but what i find after talking to so many stakeholders there isnt one single financing piece that you have to cobble it together working with local government and the private sector to get it done and it requires stakeholders coming together to make that happen so i appreciate the conversation today. Thank you for being here following up on what senator tester said about Indian Country i attended a hearing just recently on mortgage lending in the native American Communities and with the importance of manufactured homes as the affordable is sometimes the only option for tribal lands. Can you please speak to the quality of manufactured homes cracks without quality and durability talk about that if you dont mind. Spent that durability and sustainability is light years more advanced than it was like Computer Technologies and those that have come a long way previously. They are not exposed to the elements and with those exacting tables and measurements. So they are built to withstand the system so they are very well built overall and to be more energyefficient if you go to the plants and factories you will see the scrap and the waste is minimized for onsite construction. I wanted to make sure we are including manufacturing home in our planning and local and State Government identify areas for Affordable Housing because it has come a long way. I dont think that we ignore any type. Every manufactured housing and i have several in my communities in the states we should be ensuring they have all the resources they need to make sure they are also part of our concern and get the funding thats necessary at the federal level. Thank you for supporting the bill. I would like to clarify a couple of things with respect to the bill it doesnt require participating jurisdictions to allocate for the manufactured homes for the local jurisdictions to consider manufactured housing when putting together their consolidated plans and for the very reasons we are talking about today. My final question does it make sense for Community Leaders to consider the millions living in manufactured housing when they consider the housing policy positions in their community absolutely. Every option should be on the table. In the book evicted he highlights People Living in manufactured housing and the need to make it affordable and highquality and safer for people swear plays a vital role in the Affordable Housing space. This is such an important issue particularly in nevada and we appreciate the ability to highlight the Affordable Housing crisis to look for solutions to addressing. Thank you again. They have a significant percentage of the housing. Dealing with the manufactured housing over the last couple of decades. Thank you, senator jones. You are familiar with the housing with 15 factories in your state and about 17 of your housing is manufactured housing. Overall the safety improvements on the safety front have been monumental in manufactured housing. So now with the new codes that have been out there basically manufactured housing is built time after time as we have seen this with a stronger regulations and requirements that have elevated the homes for flooding and wind his own issues. Weve seen manufactured housing and natural disasters much more severe than to greater standards. Thank you so much. I want to follow up on the Carbon Monoxide alerts that got here and i really appreciate senator scott and senator menendez for the legislation and how important it is. Alabama also has, like many states, a fairly aging Housing Stock. It is important i think we could all agree there will be a fair amount of other dangers i wondered iwonderif you will givf discussion of how healthy the Housing Market is these days and are you concerned about any other threats . Thank you for the opportunity. Its also a huge issue it harms children and we need to do more to help with housing. Another issue we are concerned about his neighborhoods overa overall. Even in the Voucher Program that is needed to be able to be used wherever some one should be able to be choosing where they lived are overly concentrated in high poverty neighborhoods are often disinterested which means they dont have parks or other amenities that we know to help keep people safe and they are exposed to air pollution and other environmental hazards. While all of the bills are wonderful and i support them all we have a way to go in the affordable and safe housing in the. We need to spur the energy thats been created to increase the availability of Affordable Housing itself and then invest in housing whether its private housing or a Public Housing to make sure that everybody has the foundation of safe Affordable Housing to live and thrive in the future. Thank you all for being here and to the chairman and Ranking Member. We got into a pulpit and the Judiciary Committee that isnt unusual either. Thank you again for all the comments youve made. This is an important hearing and i appreciate so much asking what do we do steps one, two, three and four to provide Affordable Housing to people. I would like to enter into the fostering opportunities act that does wrap up the question if we get additional questions to please respond to them as quickly as you can. Its pretty clear we have strong bipartisan support here on each of these pieces of legislation and its my hope and expectation we will be able to move expeditiously to get them to the floor. With that, the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]