CSPAN - Washington Journal Dennis Shea
Aired: 2026-02-09
Duration: 03:58


=== Housing Affordability Discussion (03:58) ===

[00:00:00]  He was acting as her messenger because we were told explicitly to not repeat things that were said in that room.
[00:00:06]  It's very clear she's campaigning for clemency and it's very clear that Mr. Biggs delivered the message to Donald Trump.
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[00:00:13]  Thank you very much.
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[00:01:24]  Welcome back to Washington Journal.
[00:01:26]  Joining us to talk about housing affordability is Dennis Shea.
[00:01:30]  He is Executive Vice President at the Housing Policy Center.
[00:01:34]  Sorry, Executive Vice President at the Bipartisan Policy Center and chair of the Housing Policy Center.
[00:01:39]  There's a lot there.
[00:01:40]  There's a lot there.
[00:01:41]  It's a lot.
[00:01:42]  Welcome.
[00:01:42]  I agree.
[00:01:43]  Welcome.
[00:01:44]  Just remind us about your organization.
[00:01:46]  Sure.
[00:01:46]  BPC was founded nearly 20 years ago by four former Senate Majority Leaders, including my former boss, Bob Dole.
[00:01:56]  And it's designed to be a place where people from across the political spectrum can come together in good faith and try to figure out areas where we can advance the country.
[00:02:07]  So we have programs not just on housing, but on economics and fiscal policy, on health, on energy, on human capital, and on governance.
[00:02:17]  So it's a great organization.
[00:02:19]  I encourage everybody to check out our website at bipartisanpolicy.org.
[00:02:24]  It's a place where people find you can get the data-driven analysis, fairly written material, and good background material.
[00:02:34]  And we take positions too.
[00:02:36]  Well, let's talk about a poll.
[00:02:38]  This is a New York Times Sienna poll from last month about housing costs.
[00:02:43]  And 54% of those polled said that housing costs were unaffordable.
[00:02:50]  Why is that and why has housing costs increased?
[00:02:56]  Well, I think the short answer is that we just have not built enough housing to meet demand.
[00:03:02]  So the supply-demand imbalance has led to soaring housing costs.
[00:03:09]  I work, I lead the Tawilliger Center at BPC.
[00:03:13]  It's named after Ron Tawilliger, a former multifamily developer who's now one of the leading housing philanthropists in the United States.
[00:03:22]  And he used to call the housing affordability challenges that we face here in the U.S. the silent crisis.
[00:03:30]  But it's certainly not silent anymore as this polling information.
[00:03:34]  We're going to leave this now and take you to the U.S. House as members are gabbling in for legislative business today.
[00:03:40]  This is live coverage on C-SPAN.
[00:03:42]  Recorded votes or the yays and nays are ordered or votes objected to under clause 6, Rule 20.
[00:03:50]  The House will resume proceedings on the postponed questions at a later time.
[00:03:54]  For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Oklahoma seek recognition?