Senate Passes Comprehensive Affordable Housing Bill with Several NCSHA Priorities
The U.S. Senate earlier today passed by a strong bipartisan vote the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644). The legislation comprises nearly 40 different affordable housing bills, including many of the provisions included in the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which the House of Representatives passed a month ago, and the ROAD to Housing Act, which the Senate passed last October.
If signed into law, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will be the most substantial housing legislation to become law in more than a decade. It reflects months of work by leaders of both the Senate Banking Committee — Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) — and House Financial Services Committee — Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) — as well as congressional leadership. The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 89 – 10.
NCSHA strongly endorses the 21st Century Road to Housing Act. In a press release issued by Chairman Scott, Executive Director Stockton Williams expressed NCSHA’s praise for the bill, which he noted will “modernize and strengthen so many of the key affordable housing programs state housing finance agencies rely on to provide housing help to the people they serve.”
The bill contains several NCSHA priorities, including legislation that would reauthorize and make substantive reforms to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), and the Community Investment and Prosperity Act which would raise the cap on banks’ public welfare investments, a category that includes Housing Credit investments. Last month, NCSHA sent a letter to House and Senate leadership and the chairs and ranking members of the Banking and Financial Services committees outlining our key priorities for housing legislation, all of which were included in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
The legislation also includes a provision, pushed for by the Trump Administration, intended to increase home buyers’ access to for-sale homes by limiting home purchases by institutional investors. Specifically, entities would be prohibited from purchasing more than 350 single-family homes, with exceptions made for certain affordable homeownership programs and homes built for rent. Neither the House nor Senate bill initially contained such language. Earlier this week, NCSHA spearheaded a letter from Housing Credit advocates to Scott and Warren asking that this legislation be amended to clarify that this section of the bill does not apply to Housing Credit-financed homes.
Now that the legislation has passed the Senate, the House could approve the Senate-passed bill or look to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills. Chairman Hill has indicated House Republican leaders have several concerns with the bill as passed by the Senate, so further negotiations between the two chambers, and potentially the White House, appear likely. The president recently indicated he would not sign into law any legislation until Congress passes election reform legislation he has been advocating for, potentially complicating the road ahead for this legislation.
A section-by-section summary of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is available here. Below is a summary of some of the bill’s more significant provisions.
HOME Reauthorization and Reform
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program was last reauthorized more than two decades ago, in 1994. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would reauthorize HOME permanently and enact wholesale changes to the program to make it more efficient and effective. It combines elements of two NCSHA-endorsed bills: the HOME Reform Act of 2025 (H.R. 5798), sponsored by Representatives Mike Flood (R-NE) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act (S. 948/H.R. 2031), sponsored by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH).
Among other changes, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would make it easier to use HOME funds for affordable homeownership, streamline Section 3 requirements for HOME-funded projects, simplify HOME property inspection requirements, streamline program administration, and expand eligible activities to include some infrastructure projects. The changes are the result of years of advocacy from NCSHA and its partners in the HOME Coalition. NCSHA summarized the HOME changes in more detail here.
Community Investment and Prosperity Act
Introduced by Chairman Scott and Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) in the Senate and Representatives Mike Lawler (R-NY), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Young Kim (R-CA) in the House, the legislation would increase the cap on banks’ “public welfare investments,” a category that includes Housing Credits, from 15 percent of a bank’s capital and surplus to 20 percent. This would increase liquidity in the Housing Credit market and would be particularly useful in the coming years as states allocate increased Housing Credit authority. It applies to banks regulated by the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Environmental Review Requirements Streamlining
The bill would harmonize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s environmental review requirements, helping expedite the development of affordable housing.
Whole-Home Loan Repairs Act
This legislation would authorize HUD to establish a five-year pilot program to provide grants to nonprofits, state and local governments, and American Indian tribes to offer grants and forgivable loans to low- and moderate-income homeowners and qualifying small landlords to address repair needs and health hazards for single-family homes occupied by low-income households (earning 80 percent of area median income or below). State and local governments would be eligible to apply for funding only in areas where a qualified nonprofit is not participating in the program.
Rural Housing Service Reform Act
The bill includes the Rural Housing Service Reform Act, which would, among other reforms, codify a pilot program that allows decoupling of rental assistance from maturing Section 515 mortgages to help preserve affordable housing in rural areas.
PRICE Act
The legislation would permanently reauthorize the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) program. This program, which was temporarily authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act, provides funding to preserve, maintain, and stabilize manufactured housing communities. Several HFAs have participated in the program.
Other Provisions
The bill includes many more provisions, including sections that would:
- Eliminate the cap on the number of properties eligible for the Rental Assistance Demonstration program.
- Enable HUD to give added weight for competitive HUD grants to applicants that are located in, or primarily serve, designated Opportunity Zones to support housing preservation and construction.
- Create a competitive pot of highly flexible funding for communities increasing their housing supply, which can be used to improve community infrastructure, build housing, and supplement water and sewer grants.
- Permanently authorize the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program and establish the Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency within HUD to administer it.
- Direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to examine its policies pertaining to loan officer compensation and maximum allowable fees for mortgages and advance changes that would allow for more small-dollar mortgage lending. The Federal Housing Finance Agency also would be expected to look at its policies regarding fees.
- Require the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to modify its rules on new single-family construction loans to allow for different funding draw schedules for modular home construction.
- Update the federal definition of manufactured housing to include modular and prefabricated units not built on a permanent chassis. This will make more manufactured homes available under federal insurance programs.
- Revise FHA loan standards for manufactured housing, including increasing loan limits.
