WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) today was named Ranking Member on the Senate Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for the 119th Congress. The Chair of the Subcommittee is Senator Katie Britt (R-AL).
Smith has long championed bipartisan solutions to lower the costs for families to rent or buy a safe, decent, affordable place to live. Today, in more than 90 percent of counties, minimum wage workers cannot afford to rent even a modest one-bedroom apartment. More than half of America’s 44 million renters are spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent, more than ever before. According to the Minnesota Housing Partnership, every county in Minnesota has a shortage of affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income households.
“Without a safe, decent and affordable place to live, nothing in your life works. It becomes nearly impossible to hold a job, go to school, or stay healthy,” said Senator Smith. “Our country is facing a housing crisis, with supply falling dramatically behind demand. I’ve spent my years in the Senate working with anyone who wants to work with me, regardless of party, to find ways to address the housing crisis. For several years, the Housing, Transportation and Community Development Subcommittee has been working in a bipartisan way on important measures to preserve affordable rural housing in small towns and Tribal communities, to cut red tape that hinders construction of more housing, and to make it easier to get around. I’m excited to keep working on solutions alongside new Chair Katie Britt.”
“Our nation is facing an affordable housing crisis. Inflation, paired with low inventory and significant over-regulation, has put access to housing and homeownership even further out of reach for hardworking Americans,” said Senator Britt. “As Chair of the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee, I look forward to exploring innovative ways to increase the country’s housing stock, while eliminating costly leftwing regulations and streamlining longstanding inefficiencies within our federal housing and transit agencies. While we know current cost drivers and bureaucratic red tape are affecting families, homebuilders, and housing markets across the country, we’ve seen firsthand in Alabama that rural communities have been particularly impacted. I will continue to promote legislative solutions that spur economic development and drive investment in both our urban and rural areas, which are often overlooked. Each and every U.S. citizen deserves access to affordable housing, reliable transit, and ultimately, the ability to achieve their American Dream. I look forward to working under the leadership of Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and with my Subcommittee Ranking Member Tina Smith.”
“The Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee will be central to our efforts to build more affordable housing across the country and lower housing costs,” said Ranking Member Warren. “I look forward to working with Senators Britt and Smith to find real solutions to address our Nation’s housing affordability crisis. The American people deserve nothing less.”
Sen. Smith has heard from Minnesotans across the state about the importance of housing and has made addressing Minnesota’s housing challenges a top priority. Since joining the Senate Banking, Housing Committee, Senator Smith has a record of proposing and delivering on bipartisan solutions, ranging from reforming rural housing programs, improving homeless assistance and access to homeownership, and cracking down on predatory home financing practices like contracts for deed, many of these efforts respond to problems facing Minnesotans. When leading the Housing, Transportation and Community Development Subcommittee, Sen. Smith prioritized holding substantive, bipartisan hearings to find areas of common ground and work across the aisle. In 2019, she led a statewide housing listening tour, which found that virtually every community in the state—rural, suburban and urban—has a shortage of quality, affordable places to live. The problem affects not only families, but also limits job growth and economic development in areas with growing populations.
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