Bipartisan Senate duo introduces bill to strengthen interagency housing work

In a sign of continued bipartisan cooperation to address issues related to housing costs and supply, Sen. Ruben Gallego of (D-Arizona) and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) have introduced a bill that’s designed to better facilitate interagency coordination on housing issues.

bill would encourage greater collaboration between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in their efforts to “address the rising cost and limited supply of housing in communities in Arizona and across the country,” according to an announcement from Gallego’s office.

The bill has been given the straightforward title of the HUD-USDA-VA Interagency Coordination Act.

“Addressing the housing affordability crisis in this country requires a whole-of-government response. But right now, the federal agencies that deal with housing aren’t working together as efficiently as they should,” Gallego said.

“I’m glad to work across the aisle to introduce this commonsense legislation to ensure veterans and rural communities get the housing support they deserve.”

McCormick echoed the sentiment, tying the effort to the housing situation in his own state.

“Homeownership is out of reach for far too many families in Pennsylvania, including our nation’s veterans,” he said. “We need federal agencies to work together more effectively to increase the limited supply of housing and reduce housing costs.”

The bill would direct the three agencies to increase their coordination “by sharing relevant housing-related research and market data to facilitate evidence-based policymaking around housing,” the announcement explained.

The bill also requires the agencies to submit a report to Congress on ways they can increase coordination on existing priorities, as well as ideas for making their housing programs more efficient.

This is the latest legislative housing initiative pursued by the Arizona senator.

Gallego has expressed openness to working with officials in the Trump administration to develop housing on federal lands. He has introduced a bill seeking to update the formula for determining the allocation of affordable housing vouchers to growing cities. And he publicized another recent collaboration with McCormick on a proposal to increase the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s multifamily loan limits.