Republicans Raise Housing Costs and Make Commutes Worse

WASHINGTON — Today, House Appropriations Committee Democrats highlighted how House Republicans’ misguided 2025 Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies funding bill makes it more expensive for Americans to keep a roof over their heads, commute to work and school, and have a chance at homeownership. Republicans advanced their harmful bill on a party-line vote.

House Republicans’ Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies bill provides $90.4 billion, including $378 million for maritime defense programs at the Department of Transportation. After accounting for housing revenues, $99 billion is provided for federal transportation and housing programs, a cut of over $4.4 billion, or 4.3 percent, from 2024.

The legislation:

• Ignores the high cost of living for Americans while threatening to damage our nation’s economy by making it more difficult for Americans to secure and remain in affordable housing, access homeownership, and increase wealth and threatening to force tens of thousands of evictions.
• Walksaway from critical investments in commuter rail and bus infrastructure and Amtrak operations, resulting in service cuts, delays to station improvements that support accessibility for people with disabilities, and the loss of thousands of future jobs.
• Strips away equal access to housing and community development investments for people across America otherwise protected from discrimination on the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), and family status.

“Right now, Americans are burdened by rising housing costs and unreliable transportation, exacerbated by lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the time for us to be making historic investments that will improve access to affordable housing and ensure our transportation systems are functional, safe and efficient,” Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Quigley (D-IL-05) said. “Unfortunately, the FY25 Republican THUD bill fails to meet the growing needs of our nation. This bill fails to protect critical housing programs that keep people off the streets as well as investments that maintain safe and effective transportation systems. We can and must do better for the American people.”

Congressman Quigley’s full remarks are here.

“This bill makes itharder to build, sustain, and connect affordable, thriving communities. We are facing a historic shortage of nearly 8 million affordable homes nationwide, and coupled with higher borrowing costs, housing is less affordable than ever, for homebuyers and for renters. We should make it easier for Americans to secure and remain in affordable housing and lower costs for families. Instead, House Republicans just passed a funding bill that threatens to damage our nation’s economy and make it more difficult for hardworking people to find a home they can afford. The bill passed today puts construction jobs at risk and makes it more difficult to build new housing. At the same time, the bill makes it easier to evict struggling families, which will inevitably drive more vulnerable people into homelessness,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “Democrats are working hard to connect our communities and make our transportation infrastructure more reliable. Meanwhile, the House Republican bill makes commutes longer, causes service delays, and incites cancelations to major and desperately needed transportation infrastructure improvement projects.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s full remarks are here.

A summary of House Republicans’ 2025 Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies funding bill can be found here. A fact sheet of the bill is here.

The text of the bill, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, is here. The bill report, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, is here. Information on Community Project Funding in the bill is here.

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