Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, gave the following opening statement at a Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance virtual hearing entitled, “Built to Last: Examining Housing Resilience in the Face of Climate Change.”

Thank you very much, Chairman Cleaver for convening this hearing on the need to improve the resiliency of our country’s housing infrastructure in the face of climate change. In recent years, the United States has experienced more frequent and intense natural disasters attributable to climate change, displacing tens of thousands of people and costing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. I’ve been working across Congresses now with Members on both sides of the aisle to reform the National Flood Insurance Program, and I’m looking forward to passing further reforms as well as making a significant investment in our nation’s affordable housing stock by passing the Housing is Infrastructure Act as part of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. So, I want to thank you so very much for the attention you are giving to this issue.

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