Congress is close to approving a bipartisan housing package following months of at times heated talks between House and Senate Republicans, marking a major breakthrough that lawmakers from both parties are expected to highlight in their home districts.
The legislation, called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, seeks to loosen some housing permit requirements while also placing limits on corporate acquisitions of single-family residences, among other measures.
It represents the first major effort in decades to overhaul housing regulations, aimed at tackling long-standing issues that have constrained housing supply and contributed to rising costs of buying and renting homes across the country.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have led the bipartisan push advancing the bill in the Senate, working alongside House sponsors Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
“America is in a full-blown housing crisis. Across this country, home prices are sky-high, rent is through the roof, and the median age of a first-time homebuyer is now at an all-time high,” Warren said last week as the bill hit the Senate floor. “But for too long, the federal government has been asleep at the switch, and that changes today.”
With Congress largely preoccupied by shutdown battles and stalled legislative activity this year, the housing bill has become a notable bipartisan achievement that lawmakers from both parties can point to as a success.
Warren said that, if it ultimately reaches President Trump’s desk, the legislation would be the most significant housing package to clear Congress in three decades.
The bill contains over 45 separate provisions, including initiatives aimed at helping communities identify additional land for housing development.
It also includes funding in the form of grants and loans to support the renovation of older homes, as well as incentives to convert vacant or abandoned properties into residential housing.
The legislation also broadens the definition of manufactured housing to allow communities to increase production of such homes.
Among its key measures, the bill would introduce federal incentives encouraging local governments to expand housing development by linking certain grants to construction targets. It also seeks to speed up environmental review processes, which are often cited as a major cause of delays in affordable housing projects.
The legislation would also place limits on large investors purchasing newly built single-family homes, a provision that became a point of disagreement between House and Senate Republicans.
“There’s some regulatory relief in there, but second, stopping the big private equity guys from buying homes, which is driving prices up and taking away some of the supply, is another benefit for homeowners across the country, including Montana,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mt.), who is retiring, told reporters Thursday.
Advocates outside Congress who have long called for increased housing construction view the legislation as a significant victory.
“For years, the pro-housing movement has sought to move the debate away from how to help people afford homes and toward addressing the root causes of high housing costs,” said Baillee Brown, head of government affairs at Inclusive Abundance, a nonprofit focused on expanding housing supply.
The bill notably does not include any major increase in direct federal funding for housing.
While Warren and other Democrats have long advocated for legislation that allocates significant federal resources to affordable housing programmes, this package does not provide such funding, though it could still be addressed in future full-year spending legislation.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) described the bill as a meaningful initial step toward tackling housing challenges, while noting that it would not fully resolve the issues affecting his state.
“I hope that this means we can do more impactful housing policy together,” Murphy said. “I just don’t want to overhype the significance of the bill.”
“It will be marginally helpful in my state, but it’s no new real dollars. It doesn’t unlock a lot of our permitting and zoning problems,” said Murphy, adding “there’s a lot more we have to do.”
On Thursday, just eight senators—all Republicans—voted against advancing the bill.
