Mayors, focused on housing affordability, pledge to work with Committee to strengthen bill

Washington, DC – The U.S. Conference of Mayors has made housing affordability one of its top policy priorities, with mayors repeatedly visiting Washington and cities around the country to make the case for needed investment and reform to increase the supply of homes and bring down costs. In that spirit, today, USCM welcomed the introduction of the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill developed in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. In a letter to Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), past-President Columbus (OH) Mayor Andrew Ginther and USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran, hailed the bill’s introduction and committed USCM to work with the lawmakers to strengthen the legislation and advance it into law.

In the letter, they write in part, “Tackling the nation’s housing crisis is the top priority of The United States Conference of Mayors. As the elected officials closest to the people they serve, America’s mayors know firsthand that a challenge as great and widespread as housing affordability needs a comprehensive response. We support the ROAD to Housing Act in its effort to bring forth a wide range of strategies and tools to deal with this growing crisis.”

You can read the full letter here and below. 

Dear Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Warren,

On behalf of the United States Conference of Mayors, we write to express our appreciation for your leadership in the development and introduction of the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025. The ROAD to Housing Act of 2025 is a landmark piece of legislation that addresses the urgent need to make substantial movement on the national housing crisis. 

At our 92nd Annual Meeting in June of 2024, upon being elected President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther announced that the housing crisis in our nation would be our number one priority. Bipartisan action and advocacy calling for national legislation on the crisis followed which involved our presence at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and a three swing state tour with bipartisan mayors from Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In addition, then Conference President Ginther led two “fly-ins” to our nation’s capital with a bipartisan delegation of mayors requesting immediate action on the housing crisis which exists in cities large, medium, and small throughout the nation.

Tackling the nation’s housing crisis is the top priority of The United States Conference of Mayors. As the elected officials closest to the people they serve, America’s mayors know firsthand that a challenge as great and wide spread as housing affordability needs a comprehensive response. We support the ROAD to Housing Act in its effort to bring forth a wide range of strategies and tools to deal with this growing crisis.

The depth and breadth of this bipartisan legislation makes it the most consequential piece of housing policy from the Committee in many years. The elements of the bill ranging from critical regulatory reforms to the reauthorization of HOME to the creation of an Innovation Fund for housing are significant in their own right. When combined with the range of other measures, the bill lays the groundwork to address the nation’s urgent need to boost housing supply, improve housing affordability, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs.

Our concerns with the legislation are focused on any potential adjustments to the distribution of CDBG funding – one of Washington’s best bipartisan success stories, which has been a force in revitalizing low- and moderate-income neighborhoods across the country and serving the people living in them since 1974. This issue will require discussion as we go forward. 

As the housing affordability crisis impacts every corner of our country, every political persuasion, and every rung of the socioeconomic ladder, leaders at every level of government must come together to restore housing as one of the foundational pathways to achieving the “American Dream.”

We thank you for your efforts and are eager to work with you to ensure the bill is successful in addressing the housing needs of cities.

Sincerely,

Andrew Ginther

Mayor of Columbus, OH Past-President

Chair of the USCM Housing Task Force

Tom Cochran

CEO and Executive Director