Sen. Collins Questions HUD Secretary on Red Tape Limiting Maine Affordable Housing
Advocates for policies to help seniors age in place
Q&A on Housing Supply in Maine
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Q&A on Helping Seniors Age in Place
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Washington, D.C. – At a hearing to review the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s FY 2027 budget request, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, asked Secretary Scott Turner to cut bureaucratic hurdles impeding the use of Build America, Buy America (BABA) waivers to increase the supply of affordable housing in Maine. Citing Maine as the oldest state in the country by median age, Sen. Collins also encouraged HUD to quickly implement changes she championed in a FY 2026 bill to make it easier for seniors to age in place and remain in their own homes.
Q&A on Housing Supply in Maine
Sen. Collins: All of us agree that we should collaborate with the goal of increasing housing supply. The lack of affordable housing holds back both community and economic development, as well as affects family stability and workforce availability.
In Maine, there are far too many of our police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, and others who cannot afford to live in or near the communities in which they are employed. Economic development is also strengthened, I realize, by the objectives of the Build America, Buy America Act, or BABA. Unfortunately, HUD's implementation of BABA stands in the way far too often of building affordable housing.
In March, a Maine newspaper reported that 10 Maine projects that would add more than 400 units of affordable housing were fully permitted and ready to go, except that they lacked HUD BABA waivers. Although OMB guidance excludes privately owned homes, such as multi-family housing properties, from BABA's definition of infrastructure, HUD's guidance continues to find projects with five or more units as public infrastructure. HUD's waiver process relies on individual project-based waivers rather than product-based waivers. A review of the waivers submitted to HUD reveals multiple waiver requests for heat pumps and HVAC systems, cases where there simply are not BABA-compliant production.
Developers in Maine have shared with me that while it would be a great use of a product-specific waiver, they are instead required to resubmit waiver requests for the very same parts and components for each individual project. So that results in months-long delays, and leads to unmanageable cost increases, and it can place financing, especially through tax credits, at risk. So it feels like HUD's waiver process for BABA is a black hole where affordable housing dies. What can you do to streamline and improve this process so that it is not an obstacle to building affordable housing?
Sec. Turner: Thank you, Madame Chair. And as you know, when we came into this Administration, we really did inherit a broken system. As it pertains to BABA, there were no processes in place so that we could process these waivers and streamline this system. And so our team has been working very intentionally and hard every day to make sure we can streamline this process.
And we're happy to take your input, and I'm here today, to listen to your input and work with you, and your office, and members of this committee. You know the President's commitment, obviously, as I do, you know that we source materials here in America, but from the HUD standpoint, we want to streamline this process, and we're working very hard to get these systems in place for the waivers. So thank you for your input, and I will be happy to work with you and take your advice on this.
Sen. Collins: Thank you. I think real progress could be made in that area.
Q&A on Helping Seniors Age in Place
Sen. Collins: Mr. Secretary, enabling seniors to age in place is critical for their health and well-being, and accommodating their preferences. It also helps the stability of local communities, and it is much less expensive than moving an older adult to an assisted living facility. Maine is the oldest state in the nation by median age. And for these reasons, I authored the program when I held the Chairwoman's position years ago at HUD for low cost, low barrier, high impact home modifications that simply would allow seniors to remain in their own homes.
And, oftentimes these are minor, low-cost modifications, such as grab bars, railings, and replacing door knobs and faucets, as well as, in some cases, bigger modifications, such as replacing an existing bathtub with a walk-in tub, or building an outside wheelchair ramp. All of these, however, are far less expensive and far more accommodating to the older person than moving into an assisted living facility. They want to remain in their own homes, if possible.
Unfortunately, in the case of replacing tubs in existing homes as I'm talking about, or anchoring wheelchair ramps on existing property footprints, HUD has determined these activities require environmental reviews. Once again, that results in time delays, cost increases, and discourages proven strategies to help our seniors remain in their own homes. To correct this problem, I included language in the FY 2026 bill to ensure that the improvements were not subject to unreasonable environmental reviews, and I also included, working with my colleagues, including the Chair and Ranking Member, to adjust the cap on the cost of home modifications to account for annual changes in the cost of labor, materials, and supplies. Mr. Secretary, do you support these important common-sense improvements, and will they be fully implemented as part of the next funding competition?
Sec. Turner: Thank you, Chair Collins, and you know I understand and do appreciate your priority and your care for our senior citizens.
As we've talked about before, we want to make sure at HUD that we are providing as much flexibility as you alluded to, as we can to make sure that our seniors are taken care of, and give this flexibility to builders that are building these senior projects. And again, we do look forward to continue working with you on this to make sure that our senior citizens around our country, in particular, in your great state, are taken care of.
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