Two hearings held by The House Financial Services Committee this week focused on institutional investors who buy single-family homes, the long-term effects of the hot housing market and the homeownership race gap. While all important topics, the NAHB says the committee did not address that the lack of housing units is the main cause of the housing affordability crisis.

The way for Congress to improve affordability conditions is to implement policies that will help builders to construct more single-family homes and apartments to meet consumer demand. To help achieve this laudable goal, lawmakers need to focus on strategies to ease:

• Volatile building material prices and supply chain disruptions;
• Burdensome federal regulations; and
• A chronic construction labor shortage.