LOS ANGELES, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Housing advocates across the country recently gathered for a discussion around federal policy solutions and recent progress in addressing the nationwide housing affordability and supply crisis. Hosted on August 12 by the Center for California Real Estate (CCRE), the discussion identified a renewed and bipartisan focus on housing issues, key challenges impacting meaningful progress at the national level and their impact for states and cities, and notable policy initiatives underway to bring effective solutions in the near term and over the coming years. (The recording of the panel is available at ccre.us/pastevents).
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (PRNewsFoto/C.A.R.)
The panel featured David Garcia, policy director for Up for Growth; Lesli Gooch, CEO of the Manufactured Housing Institute; and Kim Johnson, senior director of policy for the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The panel was moderated by Rebecca Picciotto, housing reporter for The Wall Street Journal.
The wide-ranging discussion covered origins and catalysts of the current housing crisis, to federal roles in addressing housing supply and affordability, to initiatives in place and in progress, and which are capable of truly moving the needle in helping solve what they agreed is a decades-long, multi-faceted problem. Among the key insights are the following:
Congress is beginning to prioritize housing supply at the national levelPanelists were united in welcoming a marked increase in congressional focus and attention on housing issues compared to prior years. “There’s so much more interest in the last couple of years, even just this Congress, from policymakers at the federal level in being much more proactive about supporting local and state efforts to increase housing supply and improve affordability,” said Garcia.
Speakers noted an emphasis on supply as the most urgent need at every level, calling for regulatory reform to reduce barriers to production, federal investment in housing creation and scalable and impactful solutions to encourage housing delivery at scale.
Manufactured housing is gaining traction as part of federal solutions
Gooch emphasized that manufactured housing is being increasingly recognized as a key affordability tool, in particular for missing middle residents. She pointed to federal legislation under consideration to modernize the nation’s 50-year-old federal building code, which would enable a wider range of home types: “We need this legislative change that allows us to build more…to allow us to bring our houses to more places with that federal seal of approval. That’s a really important function of the federal government.”
Gooch shared significant gains in model variety and sustainability that has increased desire for single-family manufactured housing product, noting it has helped bridge the gap in NIMBY-prone areas where reticence to allow housing has shifted to a welcoming atmosphere. The combined impact of code standardization and advancements in energy efficiency and modern design has significant potential particularly as a more affordable infill solution than traditional single-family units in terms of impact on supply. Panelists cited markets with substantial progress in supporting alternative housing types such as California’s ADU programs leading the way for demonstrable success of manufactured housing at scale.
Federal housing resources must support those most in need
Kim Johnson, senior director of policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), stressed that affordability solutions must prioritize extremely low-income renters. She cited NLIHC’s Gap Report, which documents the shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available homes for the nation’s 10.9 million extremely low-income renters: “The incentives that the federal government is now trying to home in on and offer to localities and communities in order to create rules that allow for the development of more affordable, accessible housing are so important.”
Johnson argued that federal assistance must also include consideration of direct financial support enabling residents to cover not only rent but also other basic needs to secure long-term sustainability.
Bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act has a long road aheadPanelists all looked to the Senate’s draft ROAD to Housing Act as a vehicle for some favorable change in America’s approach to housing. Garcia cited incentives for housing production at the city level tied to community block grants as an exciting element to watch. On the East Coast, Johnson cites project-based rental assistance and other financial tools as essential components of sustainable affordable housing support and urged accountability on where and how the dollars are spent for programs going forward. Gooch noted specific federal building code enhancements in the ROAD Act that will make manufactured homes easier to deliver, but that require changes at the state and local levels to speed implementation.
Additional challenges and opportunities
Panelists cited rising materials costs as a key challenge for improving housing production, and more work to be done on opportunity zoning to help facilitate small dollar loans to fund development and construction. They discussed compromise options such as ground leases on federally owned land to support housing needs in the near term but retain control in the long term, and disparate perspectives from different parts of the country. Johnson cited examples such as Florida’s State Housing Trust Fund that targets deeply affordable housing while providing localities the flexibility to address the needs of their communities. Panelists ultimately agreed that continued dialogue is essential. “It’s all of the above,” said Gooch. “Let’s have these conversations. Let’s figure out what the pros and cons are, but let’s figure out what’s scalable as well.”
About the Center for California Real Estate
The Center for California Real Estate (CCRE), an institute of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.), advances knowledge and research by collaborating with varied partners, spurs innovative thinking about key issues facing California and the real estate industry, and extends C.A.R.’s influence via intellectual engagement with different audiences, diverse stakeholders and new external partners.
CCRE serves as a nexus for multi-disciplinary thinking aimed at solving some of the state’s most challenging issues. Bringing together key experts from a variety of fields — from academics and policymakers to industry leaders — CCRE produces new knowledge and serves as a key resource about housing issues for all C.A.R. members, external entities, the media and the public.
About the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Leading the way…® in California real estate for 120 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States with 200,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Sacramento.
SOURCE CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’ Center for California Real Estate