House clears bipartisan housing affordability package for Trump’s signature
by Lindsey McPherson · The Washington TimesThe House on Tuesday passed a bipartisan package of bills that lawmakers say will help Americans struggling to afford housing.
The 358-32 House vote, following Senate passage on Monday, clears the measure for President Trump’s signature.
The president is expected to host a signing ceremony on Wednesday at the Capitol since he already had plans to be there for a lunch with Senate Republicans.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is designed to increase housing supply and lower the cost of homeownership.
Rep. French Hill, Arkansas Republican and the House Financial Services chairman who helped craft the package, called the legislation “one of the most significant bipartisan housing reforms in recent memory.”
He said the bill modernizes federal housing programs, streamlines the development process and cuts unnecessary barriers to new home construction. That includes overhauling government regulations that account for roughly a quarter of the cost of an average new home.
To address more localized barriers to building affordable housing, the package offers grant programs as incentives for state and local governments to improve their zoning laws, increase housing supply and convert vacant and abandoned buildings into housing.
“This is Congress working at its best, tackling the challenges of the American people, offering solutions and having those enacted into law,” Mr. Hill said.
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The package compiles dozens of individual bills that lawmakers have spent years negotiating. The Senate and House started with different versions and spent months sending the legislation back and forth before settling on this final bicameral deal.
Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the top Democrat on the Financial Services panel with jurisdiction over housing policy, argued the bill has gotten “better and better” with each iteration.
“This bill will reduce unnecessary barriers to housing development, expand financing for housing and community investment and support the development of innovative housing like modular homes,” she said.
Ms. Waters also touted the bill’s “range of new protections for renters, including a hotline to file complaints with [the Department of Housing and Urban Development] and corporate landlords.”
The bill would ban companies with investment control of 350 or more single-family homes from purchasing additional units, codifying an executive order President Trump issued to stop Wall Street investment firms from crowding individual buyers out of the market.
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The original House bill did not include the ban and leaders there successfully fought to remove a Senate provision that would have forced large investors to sell their existing units within seven years.
The provision drew backlash from the National Association of Home Builders and other industry groups that argued it would devastate the build-to-rent market.
Mr. Hill and Ms. Waters also successfully pushed for House’ provisions to provide regulatory relief to community banks so they can expand home lending opportunities.
Some of the opposition to the bill came from House Republicans who signed a pledge to oppose all Senate bills until the SAVE America Act, the GOP’s election integrity bill, is passed.
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“The Senate cannot keep obstructing President Trump’s agenda while ignoring election integrity,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Florida Republican, wrote on X.
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Lindsey McPherson
lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com
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