LYNN — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MASS) held a press conference at Lynn City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 28 to discuss the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025.
Warren is a principal co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill, which passed unanimously through the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs last month in a 24-0 vote. During the press conference, Warren explained what critical housing issues the bill addresses.
“Housing is in a crisis in Massachusetts. And the problem is, we just don’t have enough. Why are prices so high? Because we don’t have enough. Massachusetts is currently 200,000 housing units below what we need to be just to house our people, and we are not building that housing fast enough,” she said.
Warren also broke down three key goals of the bill to help communities build more housing in their towns.
- To increase the tools available to local communities that want to build more housing.
- To address specific problems such as access to housing such as appraisal bias and housing for the homeless.
- To have the Federal government be a partner with communities that are trying to build housing.
“Before, the federal government has been involved in financing housing and doing a very modest amount in public housing. And beyond that, has said to cities and towns around the country: ‘It’s your problem,’” Warren said.
The ROAD to Housing Act 2025 does not tell specific communities what to change with their housing. Instead, different towns “will be able to take advantage of different parts depending on where the needs are in their communities, and where the opportunities are.
“This is not a command and control bill. This is a partnership bill,” Warren said.
As for the future of the bill, Warren said despite a “divided Washington,” she is “very hopeful” that it will get through Congress, and that President Trump will have “every incentive” to sign it.
“Housing is not just a blue states problem, a Massachusetts problem, or a coastal problem. This bill was very carefully negotiated to make sure that every republican on the banking committee got a piece of the bill, so there is widespread support among both Democrats and Republicans. I’m very careful not to call this a Democratic bill, or a win for Democrats. This bill is a win for Americans,” she said.
Lynn Mayor Jared C. Nicholson also voiced his support for the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025.
“The cost of housing is one of the top issues facing our residents. At the local level, we’re doing everything we can do to try to help our residents be in homes that they can afford. We’re administering programs and providing information on tenant’s rights, and preserving and producing more affordable units,” he said. “But for too many people, it’s not enough.
“People have been and are being displaced. More people are becoming homeless. Home ownership is absolutely out of the question for folks, where just a generation ago, it would’ve been a given. This is a problem of national scope, and it needs national solutions,” he continued.
“Whether its financing barriers, or regulatory barriers, we know that more federal support can help make sure that more of those projected units will become actual homes for our residents. An increased commitment at the federal level for the goals we have here in our community to increase housing supply and improve housing affordability is critical to achieving the scale that it is going to take to solve this problem,” said Nicholson.
