{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/press-releases/2026/04/14/hagerty-introduces-freedom-to-build-act-to-make-housing-affordable-again/", "Hagerty Introduces \u201cFreedom to Build Act\u201d to Make Housing Affordable Again", "2026-04-14", "2026", "2026-04", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Bill Hagerty", "H000601", "www.hagerty.senate.gov", "hagerty", "https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "Legislation would incentivize deregulation, expand housing supply, and make new homes more affordable\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014 United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has introduced the Freedom to Build Act to incentivize deregulation, expand housing supply, and make new homes more affordable.\n\nThe 2026 Economic Report of the President finds that a \u201cbureaucrat tax\u201d in the form of government regulations adds more than $100,000 to the cost of a home and constrains new construction. To address this, the Freedom to Build Actdirects the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a \u201cFreedom to Build\u201d certification. To qualify, localities adopt policies that unleash construction innovation, fast-track approval processes, defend property rights and family freedom, and demonstrate a consistent record of expanding housing supply. Certified localities receive priority consideration for existing HUD housing grants. The legislation creates no new agencies or programs and authorizes no new spending. It simply aligns existing federal incentives to reward communities that reduce regulatory barriers to building new homes.\n\n\u201cFor many Americans, the dream of owning a home is increasingly out of reach, and excessive regulations have made new homes too costly for many American families,\u201d said Senator Hagerty. \u201cMy Freedom to Build Act streamlines costly and often redundant regulations to reduce the cost of a new home in our country.\u201d\n\nThe legislation is endorsed by:\n\nNational Association of Home Builders\n\nLeading Builders of America\n\nNational Multifamily Housing Council\n\nThe Real Estate Roundtable\n\nMortgage Bankers Association\n\n\u201cSenator Hagerty\u2019s Freedom to Build Act provides important incentives for communities to voluntarily take steps to improve the home building process at the local level,\u201d said Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. \u201cRegulatory barriers like restrictive zoning, cumbersome permitting processes, and cost-increasing mandates stifle housing production. By making jurisdictions more competitive to receive federal grants if they take measures to ease barriers to new home construction, this bill will help improve housing affordability.\u201d\n\nKen Gear, CEO, Leading Builders of America: \u201cThe Freedom to Build Act will unlock innovation in building technology, remove costly mandates that inflate home prices, streamline permitting and approval processes and allow builders to increase construction of homes that middle class families can afford. The Freedom to Build designation will allow local jurisdictions to voluntarily demonstrate that they welcome new affordable housing supply. It encourages them to proactively remove barriers and partner with homebuilders to address one of the most critical issues affecting their constituents. Importantly, it\u2019s results oriented and measures success by the number of new homes constructed. The designation will also allow federal and state policy makers visibility into how committed municipalities are to providing more housing supply. Federal infrastructure, community development and housing funds should be prioritized to communities that do their part to reduce barriers to housing construction. This bill provides the right incentives to address housing affordability and get new homes built.\u201d\n\nSharon Wilson G\u00e9no, President, National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC): \u201cAmerica\u2019s affordability challenges won\u2019t be solved without building much more badly needed housing, and that means removing the barriers that stand in the way. These are the type of housing solutions that we should focus on\u2014policies that expand housing options for Americans. By cutting red tape and creating more predictable, efficient construction and development processes, we can reduce housing costs and clear the way to deliver more housing sooner in communities across the country.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Real Estate Roundtable supports the Freedom to Build Act,\u201d said Jeffrey D. DeBoer, president and chief executive officer of The Real Estate Roundtable. \u201cThis legislation would be a meaningful step toward expanding housing supply and improving affordability for working families. The Freedom to Build Act would align federal incentives with local decision-making to help unlock private capital, enhance housing supply, and support long-term economic growth. The Real Estate Roundtable has long supported policies that promote housing affordability \u2013 for renters and homeowners \u2013 and strengthen the connection between housing, jobs, and transportation.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Mortgage Bankers Association commends Senator Hagerty for introducing legislation designed to help remove regulatory barriers in order to increase housing supply,\u201d said Bill Killmer, senior vice president of legislative and political affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). \u201cThe Freedom to Build Act encourages localities through the provision of grants to adopt reforms intended to unleash construction innovation, speed approval processes, and limit government mandates as appropriate for the building of more housing (both single- and multifamily). MBA will continue to advocate on behalf of policies that appropriately increase supply, promote a healthier real estate market, and provide consumers with sustainable housing opportunities.\u201d\n\nFull text of the legislation can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-15T05:46:42Z", "2026-04-15T05:48:27Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/press-releases/2026/04/14/hagerty-introduces-freedom-to-build-act-to-make-housing-affordable-again/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5561189502477646, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}