Senate passes bipartisan housing reform bill to boost supply, cut costs

Will this bipartisan housing package make homes cheaper, faster to build, or easier to keep? The Senate’s 89-10 vote for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act moved Congress closer to the most ambitious housing overhaul in years, but the bill’s practical impact will depend on whether its supply measures, financing changes and affordability protections survive the next round of negotiations.

The measure is a substitute amendment to H.R. 6644 and combines pieces of the Senate’s ROAD to Housing Act with the House-passed Housing for the 21st Century Act. The Congressional Research Service says it spans 11 titles and 43 sections, reflecting a broad attempt to address the housing shortage from multiple angles at once: zoning and permitting bottlenecks, financing tools for developers and lenders, and policies intended to widen access for buyers and renters shut out by high costs.

Behind the final vote was a long negotiation led by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Tim Scott of South Carolina, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill of Arkansas and Ranking Member Maxine Waters of California. Scott has framed the issue personally, saying he grew up in rental housing and that his mother became a first-time homebuyer at 38 with help from a USDA program. That family story has become part of a wider argument that the country’s housing system no longer works for many working households.

Supporters say the bill would be the largest bipartisan housing supply measure Congress has passed in decades. The National Association of REALTORS® says the United States faces a shortage of nearly 5 million homes and says the median age of a first-time homebuyer has climbed to 40. NAR called the legislation the most comprehensive bipartisan housing bill since the 2008 financial crisis if it becomes law. The White House backed the unified package, giving the Senate vote added momentum.

The harder fight may be in the House. House lawmakers approved a related housing bill 390-9 on Feb. 9, but some Republicans have complained about being excluded from the final Senate talks, and House leaders have not clearly committed to floor action. The National Low Income Housing Coalition says the future of the bill remains uncertain despite White House support.

Industry and local-government groups are pressing for changes before a final conference agreement. The National Association of Home Builders warned that revisions to community bank relief and FHA multifamily loan limits could hurt low- and moderate-income renters. It also said a seven-year forced-sale requirement for certain purpose-built single-family rentals could cut single-family production by nearly 40,000 units a year. County officials, meanwhile, have warned that the Build Now Act could tie Community Development Block Grant dollars to housing-growth performance, putting local flexibility at risk. The Senate vote showed rare alignment; the next step will determine whether that consensus can survive contact with the House.