NCSHA Applauds Enactment of 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

WASHINGTON, DC — The National Council of State Housing Agencies applauds the enactment of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and commends the Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate who worked together to pass the bill with huge bipartisan majorities. NCSHA especially commends Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representatives French Hill (R-AR), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Mike Flood (R-NE), and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) for their leadership in Congress throughout the process.

“The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act makes dozens of worthwhile reforms to federal programs and establishes a number of new policies that will help lower housing costs and increase housing opportunities,” said NCSHA Executive Director Stockton Williams. “Now, federal agencies must work with urgency to implement the law, so it delivers the results the American people are counting on.”

“NCSHA’s state housing finance agency members, which provide more than $55 billion in financing that serves more than 300,000 households every year and interact with most of the programs and policies impacted by the bill, look forward to working with federal agencies and the White House on the critical next steps to turn a major policy accomplishment in Washington, DC, into tangible results around the country,” Williams said.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act reforms and streamlines numerous U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture affordable housing programs and policies, allows banks to increase equity investments in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit developments and other public welfare priorities, authorizes new pilot programs and extends others, provides incentives for state and local zoning and land-use reform, authorizes a HUD CDBG-based disaster recovery program for three years, and directs federal agencies to undertake new research and establish best practices in an effort to expand the supply of affordable housing.

The act includes many priorities of NCSHA and its state housing finance agency members, who worked closely with members of Congress to shape the legislation.

About the National Council of State Housing Agencies 
For more than 50 years, state housing finance agencies have played a central role in the nation’s affordable housing system, delivering financing to make possible the purchase, development, and rehabilitation of affordable homes and rental apartments for low- and middle-income households.

The National Council of State Housing Agencies is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization created to advance, through advocacy and education, the efforts of the nation’s state HFAs and their partners to provide affordable housing to those who need it. NCSHA’s vision: An affordably housed nation. Learn more at www.ncsha.org.

For more information, contact Lisa Bowman, Director of Marketing and Communications.