U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner joined U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie on Wednesday morning in Bethlehem to tout two projects bringing much-needed housing to the city.<\/p>\n
Yet the housing-focused visit came as President Donald Trump continued to decline to sign a landmark bipartisan bill that would streamline federal housing regulations, construction permitting and environmental reviews in order to build more housing nationwide.<\/p>\n
Trump canceled plans to sign the bill into law at an event last month, and said he would not sign it until Congress passes a bill that requires proof of citizenship for all voters, calling the housing bill \u201cunimportant\u201d in comparison to the voting bill. The housing bill could become law without Trump\u2019s signature Friday, but if the president vetoes it, it would be sent back to Congress without legal approval.<\/p>\n
Mackenzie, who voted in favor of the housing bill, told The Morning Call he is \u201cconfident\u201d that it will become law despite Trump\u2019s unwillingness to commit his support.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The bill] is now before the president, and I\u2019m confident that one way or the other, it is going to become law,\u201d Mackenzie said.<\/p>\n
Mackenzie also acknowledged in prepared remarks that housing is one of the \u201ctop needs\u201d for residents across the Lehigh Valley, as rent and home prices spiked in 2020 and have remained elevated since then.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw that there were [housing] shortages in our local community, and we wanted to make that something that we would work on as a priority if I was elected,\u201d Mackenzie said. \u201cSo we have been doing that, making housing a priority. We\u2019ve had so many great wins here locally. We want to continue to build on that momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turner and Mackenzie toured the Brinker Lofts building in South Bethlehem<\/a>, a former 19th-century cold storage facility that developer Jefferson Werner converted into an apartment building that opened in 2019 with help from a federal opportunity zone designation.<\/p>\n The opportunity zone program was established via Trump\u2019s 2017 tax reform bill and provides real estate developers with tax breaks in exchange for building in areas designated \u201cdistressed\u201d low-income communities. Capital gains from opportunity zone investments are then invested into equity funds that support job creation in the distressed areas.<\/p>\n The \u201cBig Beautiful Bill Act,\u201d a signature piece of legislation signed into law by Trump last summer, expanded the opportunity zones program and made it a permanent part of the U.S. tax code.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very impressed, encouraged to see such an old building reimagined and reused to be a blessing to families, young professionals and others going forward,\u201d Turner said following the Brinker Lofts tour. \u201cBut why else are opportunity zones so important? They create jobs. They create family formation. They create affordable housing. They create new entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n