Up for Growth Action member, Up for Growth National Coalition Board Chairman, and National Multifamily Housing Council Executive Committee Member, Clyde Holland, joined President Trump as he signed an executive order creating the White House Council to Eliminate Barriers to Affordable Housing Development on Tuesday.

“As a longtime builder of multifamily housing, I look forward to working with the President and the council to find ways to address the nation’s massive shortage of housing,’’ Holland said. “This effort aligns perfectly with Up for Growth Action’s mission to improve the quality of life for working families and individuals by promoting more housing close to jobs, efficient transportation, and in high opportunity neighborhoods.”

The White House Council to Eliminate Barriers to Affordable Housing Development will target artificial barriers to housing at the federal, state and local levels that perpetuate social inequity and exacerbate an affordability crisis. Up for Growth National Coalition’s Housing Underproduction in the U.S. report found that the U.S. fell 7.3 million homes short of housing need from 2000 – 2015. This chronic undersupply of housing is one reason why 37 million households pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing, and 18 million are paying more than 50 percent.

“The artificial barriers to housing that the White House has highlighted are a big contributor to the complex housing crisis,” said Mike Kingsella, Executive Director of Up for Growth Action. “Eliminating those artificial barriers and increasing funding for affordable housing will go a long way to fix our broken housing ecosystem.”

The president’s announcement is part of a run of positive developments for federal housing policy, following the introduction of the Yes In My Back Yard Act, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, and the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act.

For a copy of the press release, click here.