Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – 2/12/26… Reps. Mike Lawler (NY-17) and Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) introduced two bipartisan housing bills aimed at expanding affordability and homeownership opportunities for middle-class families and America’s first responders. The legislation focuses on working families who earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing programs but still struggle to afford to live in the communities they serve, a growing challenge in high-cost regions like the Hudson Valley and North Jersey.

The Housing for America’s Middle Class Act  bill was included in the Housing for the 21st Century Act that passed the House of Representatives on February 9th, 2026. 

“The cost of housing is crushing middle-class families. Teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and working families are being priced out of their own communities. These bipartisan bills take a practical approach to modernizing housing policy and expanding access to homeownership, especially for the people who keep our communities safe and strong,” said Congressman Lawler, member of the Housing and Insurance House Financial Services Subcommittee. 

“Bottom line: we’ve got to make housing more affordable for families. Hard-working Jersey families and our first responders shouldn’t be priced out of their own communities,” said Congressman Gottheimer (NJ-5), member of the House Financial Services Committee. “These commonsense bipartisan bills will cut red tape and help make homeownership and more affordable housing a reality for our communities and the heroes who keep them safe.”

The Housing for America’s Middle Class Act directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study income parameters for “workforce housing” and make recommendations to Congress on how federal housing policy can better serve middle-income earners.

The term “workforce housing” is increasingly used but inconsistently defined, often referring to households earning between 60 and 120 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), including police officers, firefighters, teachers, health care workers, retail employees, and others who frequently fall just outside eligibility for traditional affordable housing programs.

The bill would require GAO to examine how these income thresholds are treated under the National Housing Act and recommend updates to better reflect modern housing costs and workforce realities. This provision was previously included in the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which passed the House Financial Services Committee with nearly unanimous bipartisan support. 

The Housing for Heroes Act expands HUD’s Good Neighbor Next Door program by allowing members of the armed forces, law enforcement officers and firefighters nationwide to purchase HUD-owned properties at a 50 percent discount, regardless of whether the home is located in a HUD-designated revitalization area. Under the program, eligible buyers, including law enforcement officers, teachers (pre-K through 12th grade), firefighters, and emergency medical technicians, receive a substantial discount in exchange for committing to live in the home as their primary residence for at least 36 months.

Full text of the Housing for America’s Middle Class Act HERE. 

Full text of the Housing for Heroes Act HERE.

Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

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