During a congressional hearing held on June 26 by the House Financial Services Committee, two of the country’s top oversight officials for the housing market testified to lawmakers on priority recommendations needed to improve housing access, affordability, and quality. The Committee heard testimony from Rae Oliver Davis, Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Brian M. Tomney, Inspector General for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

The hearing was led by Committee Chairman Warren Davidson (R-OH), who said he was “appalled” by housing conditions in public housing and called substandard housing quality the “tip of the iceberg.” The hearing covered issues with HUD’s housing inspections, including follow-up repairs after inspections, and the need for HUD to hold housing providers accountable. HUD Inspector General Davis gave a nod to HUD’s new NSPIRE housing inspection protocol, which she said should help improve the agency’s oversight of housing quality.

The hearing quickly turned to issues of voter registration drives in federally-assisted housing, which certain Committee members considered a violation of rules against political actions by federal employees. Committee Ranking Member Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) pushed back against these accusations, asking the Committee and the expert witnesses to reconsider whether voter registration in itself should be considered a partisan activity.

After Committee members called attention to racial disparities in mortgage lending through FHFA, Inspector General Tomney was pressed on balancing affordability targeting with maintaining credit-worthiness in lending practices.

Across the political spectrum, committee members specifically called attention to the lack of affordable housing units and the overall housing crisis. Inspector General Davis specifically called out the lack of HUD capacity based on limited Congressional resources.

LeadingAge strongly supports additional resources for HUD, as well as strong oversight over affordable housing quality. More information about the hearing, including the recording and statements for the record, is available here.