A "New Low Price" sign in front of a home in Crockett, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Traditionally, the program that we're remodeling… has favored multifamily. But an apartment is not the American Dream. The American Dream is a single-family home," he said.
"And with these changes to the program, it's my hope that these dollars will leverage the building of new homes, it will leverage the rehab of dilapidated structures, including homes, and it will make some multifamily opportunities even more attractive."
Asked how it would help a young couple buy their first home in his own home state, for example, Flood pointed out that "increased demand" for housing developers to meet strict existing codes for sewer systems, paved streets, and stormwater systems has resulted in housing lot prices rising dramatically — particularly with recent years' high inflation.
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Shifting those costs to the state and local governments, he said, would help lower those costs.
"The cost of a lot, before you even buy the ground, there's already $25,000 in there. If the city of Columbus, Nebraska, gets $2.5 million from the Home Partnership program, the city can go in and expand stormwater and sewer and maybe even pavement and streets," he explained.
"And suddenly, instead of being a $50,000 lot, it's a $20,000 lot. Instead of being a $300,000 home, you know, it's a $270,000 home because the cost of that was ultimately given to the city, and the city used it to build city infrastructure, not making the developer do that."
President Donald Trump signs the funding bill to reopen the government, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
First-time home buyers made up just 21% of home sales this year, the lowest number since 1981, according to the National Association of Realtors.
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When speaking with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Flood also credited President Donald Trump with pushing the issue to the forefront of the national conversation.
"President Trump accelerated our success and our progress on this issue when he came out very forcefully earlier in the summer and said that housing affordability was one of the top goals of his administration," he said.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bipartisan-plan-aims-make-american-dream-affordable-again-millions-first-time-homebuyers