Policy News from Congress

HAC’s Research Director Testifies to Senate Banking Committee on the State of Housing 2023

HAC was deeply honored by an invitation to testify at the first hearing held in the new 118th Congress by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Titled The State of Housing 2023, the session featured Lance George, HAC’s Director of Research and Information, as one of  three witnesses.

A wide range of topics was covered by the witnesses’ testimony and the Senators’ questions. Among the key areas of concern were the gap between housing supply and need, the high cost of both homeownership and rental housing, and what congressional actions could address these challenges. Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) asked specifically about the loss of rentals financed by USDA’s Section 515 program, a serious concern addressed by HAC research in 2016 and 2022.

Key Takeaways

Lance’s statement made five key points about the state of rural housing in 2023:

  • The pandemic left its mark on rural America and housing markets remain uncertain.
  • Rural mortgage markets are being impacted by interest rates and prices too.
  • Affordability is the greatest housing challenge in rural America, by far.
  • Manufactured housing is an often overlooked but important source of housing – especially in rural America.
  • Race matters across the rural spectrum – especially in housing.

Key policy recommendations, based on HAC’s full set of policy priorities for 2023, included:

  • Increase rural communities’ access to credit and capital and strengthen USDA and HUD homeownership supports.
  • Improve opportunities and financing for preserving aging rental properties and protecting tenants.
  • Authorize the powerful Rural Community Development Initiative and a significant cross-sectoral, flexible capacity building rural investment initiative.

Lance George

Lance George

HAC’s Director of Research & Information

Watch the Hearing


Policy News field

HAC’s Research Director Testifies on Persistent Poverty on Capitol Hill

On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 10:00 am EST the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance convened a hybrid hearing entitled, “Persistent Poverty in America: Addressing Chronic Disinvestment in Colonias, the Southern Black Belt, and the U.S. Territories.” Lance George, HAC’s Director of Research and Information, provided testimony during the hearing.

Watch the Hearing

For more information on Persistent Poverty, read The Persistence of Poverty in Rural America.

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By registering for and/or attending a Housing Assistance Council (HAC) Training Event, all attendees agree to be bound by, and comply with, these Terms and Conditions. It is the attendee’s responsibility to read and understand these Terms and Conditions.

  1. Registration.  Registration is required for attendance at a HAC Training Event. The registration entitles each attendee to one place at the training.
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    • HAC will issue refunds with a written request received 10 or more working days prior to the event start date. Unfortunately, refund requests submitted within less than 10 days prior to the start of an event will not be honored. All refunds are subject to a $50 service fee.
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  1. Force Majeure. HAC reserves the right to defer or cancel Training Event (without liability to the Applicant) in the event of a Force Majeure.  If HAC cancels the event pursuant to clause HAC will refund the attendee, the Registration Fee. Force Majeure may include any cause which results in the failure or delay in the performance of either party’s obligations under the Agreement which arises from or is attributable to circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the defaulting party including without limitation acts of God, pandemic, epidemic, quarantine, war (declared or undeclared) strikes, labor disputes, labor unrest, governmental regulation, civil disturbance, terrorism, disaster, fire, earthquakes, hurricanes, unreasonable extreme inclement weather, curtailment of transportation facilities, public utility failure, breakdown of webhost, breakdown of internet service provider, changes in laws and regulations, declaration of a “high” or “severe” risk of terrorist attack or any other comparable condition making it inadvisable, illegal or impossible for either party to perform its obligations hereunder.
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