US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has pushed the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make mass timber a mainstream building material as part of the federal response to America’s housing affordability crisis, with the Mississippi Republican using a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to press HUD Secretary Scott Turner for a commitment to engage the US Forest Service, state forest commissions, research universities and builders on adoption.
Wood Central obtained the remarks as part of a Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, chaired by Hyde-Smith, on Tuesday to review the FY2027 HUD budget request, in which the senator argued that the housing side of the mass timber conversation had been ceded to the Forest Service.
Hyde-Smith said mass timber multifamily housing was already demonstrating the ability to cut construction costs and shorten build times, making it well placed to grow the US affordable housing supply. Scaling up non-traditional building materials alongside local zoning reform was the combination Washington needed to clear the country’s housing shortfall, the Mississippi senator told the hearing.
“Most of the thinking around mass timber is happening as a resource management issue,” Hyde-Smith said.
As an appropriator, Hyde-Smith has previously supported federal funding for the Mississippi State University (MSU) Forest Products Laboratory to optimise biomass commercialisation, including research on lumber standards, mass timber construction, and durability. MSU has partnered with the Mississippi Forestry Association to advance sustainable mass timber design and advanced timber construction, with the work feeding back into the state’s broader forest economy.
Mississippi’s forest-related economic activity generated more than US$4.42 billion in income and supported more than 80,000 jobs across 2025, with the senator citing the figures in support of her case for direct federal engagement on mass timber housing construction.
Hyde-Smith also used her opening statement to flag concerns with the administration’s proposal to eliminate programmes such as the Community Development Block Grant and HOME, and the committee chair signalled she was ready to work with HUD on programme efficiency and effectiveness. The Tuesday hearing is a precursor to the Senate THUD Appropriations Committee writing the legislation that will fund HUD for the fiscal year starting 1 October 2026, with Hyde-Smith seeking the department’s commitment to bring mass timber into mainstream US affordable housing policy before that bill is finalised.
