U.S. Chamber Launches Housing Council Led by JPMorganChase

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has formed a Housing Advisory Council chaired by JPMorganChase, with James Hardie, Citi and UMH Properties as inaugural members, to push market-driven policies that increase housing supply and affordability in America.

The launch follows what the Chamber calls one of the most significant housing reform packages enacted in decades. Prior estimates cited by the Chamber put the national housing shortage at 4.7 million homes — a deficit that affects workers, employers and communities.

"When housing supply doesn't keep up with demand, it becomes a real constraint on workers, businesses, and growth," said Neil Bradley, Chief Policy Officer and Head of Strategic Advocacy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "The Council is focused on bringing together companies that build, finance, and supply housing to focus on practical market-driven solutions that strengthen economic resilience and expand opportunity in local communities across America."

The Council will draw on the Chamber's network of more than 1,500 state and local chambers to identify community-specific barriers to housing production and elevate local solutions that can be replicated and scaled. It will build on the Chamber's advocacy for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by publishing recommendations, engaging policymakers and tracking progress across priority markets.

The group's work will pair policy advocacy with business-led solutions in three areas. First, reducing barriers to building more housing by addressing outdated zoning, land use and permitting processes that add time, cost and uncertainty to development. Second, unlocking capital to support housing production through policy and market solutions that improve certainty and liquidity while mobilizing private capital. Third, strengthening the construction workforce by expanding training and skilled trade pipelines, apprenticeships and employer-education partnerships.

The Council will also tap employers' firsthand experience of how housing costs affect hiring, growth and investment. Members span finance, construction and housing supply chains.

"As the nation's largest multifamily lender and residential bank mortgage lender, we recognize that financing is only one part of the equation to address the nation's housing challenges," said Michelle Herrick, Head of Commercial Real Estate at J.P. Morgan. "Together with members of the Council and in collaboration with public and private stakeholders, we will identify and advance solutions that increase housing supply and support homeownership to help more families access the American Dream."

The initiative extends the Chamber's broader housing advocacy, which helps local communities identify solutions to housing shortfalls. The organization frames the Council as the catalyst for a new phase of business-led efforts targeting practical barriers to production.

The Chamber, founded more than 114 years ago, describes itself as the world's largest business organization, representing companies of all sizes across every sector of the economy.

The Council's near-term test will be whether federal reform momentum can translate into measurable gains in priority markets, with progress tracked against the recommendations it plans to publish.