Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson launched a listening tour in January to engage with communities around the country that are struggling with housing affordability.
“In our efforts to alleviate the unnecessary regulatory barriers to housing construction and development, it’s important that we get out into local communities and hear directly from our fellow citizens who are grappling with rising housing prices and learn more about best practices to address them,” Carson said in a statement. “Families, businesses, nonprofits and community leaders all have concerns about the rising cost of housing, and this bus tour is an opportunity to bring everyone to discuss how we can fix the problem.”
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The tour kicked off in Louisville, Kentucky, before stopping in Nashville, and Russellville, Alabama. Future dates have not been announced yet, but the tour will run through June 2020.
Carson is chair of the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing, which was created in June 2019 as part of an executive order that points to overly burdensome regulations at the federal, state, local and tribal levels as the leading factor in increasing home prices. The two-year council is tasked with providing a report on its findings by June 25, 2020.
Danielle Andrus was previously the managing editor for Colorado Builder, and is currently Editor for the Journal of Financial Planning.
