NCSHA Washington Report | May 15, 2026
Each time the House or Senate passes a version of the “21st Century ROAD to Housing” bill, the wide-ranging legislation seems to take two steps forward and one step back on the path, one hopes, to President Trump’s desk. In other words, despite the difficulties, it may still get there eventually.
The House is planning to vote on the latest iteration, which we support, next week. From our perspective, there’s even more to like in it than the version the chamber passed in February. The new one includes reforms to rural housing programs we’ve long supported and authorizes a home loan repair pilot program based on a successful state-run program in Pennsylvania, aimed at rural as well as urban areas.
The previous House bill sailed through on a 390 – 9 vote. The count next week may not match that, but it should still pass with a big bipartisan majority.
The Senate passed its “21st Century ROAD to Housing” measure in March, by an 89 – 10 vote. Senate leaders stressed that 90 percent of it was based on “bicameral work” or reflected other proposals from members of the House, and only five percent wasn’t bipartisan.
The Senate also added a limit on institutional investors’ acquisition of single-family homes, for the express purpose of getting President Trump, who had proposed such a ban a few months before, on board. The White House issued a statement supporting the bill, largely on that basis, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the House should “swiftly send it to President Trump for his signature.”
But intense industry opposition to the prohibition, especially its requirement that investor-owned homes built for rent be sold after seven years, quickly blunted the momentum. Bessent was reportedly quietly telling House Republicans to change that provision and Trump recently soured on it as well, according to Politico.
Or maybe not. On Monday, as the House was putting the finishing touches on its revised ROAD bill, the president posted again that the House should pass the Senate’s version because it “would ensure homes are for people, not Corporations.”
The new House bill would, in fact, put new limits on institutional investor home purchasing, but fewer of them than the Senate did. And it mostly spares investor-owned built-to-rent activities and drops the seven-year sale requirement, which are pro-supply improvements with a lot of support.
It’s not clear whether that will be good enough for the president. The news service NOTUS reported on Wednesday night that “the White House had ‘objections’ to some of the newly proposed changes to the Senate package” without listing any specifics.
During most of the housing bill’s bumpy road through Congress, it’s been widely believed final passage would depend on President Trump’s political muscle squeezing the House to swallow what the Senate sent over.
House Republican leaders have other ideas, and unless they can find a compromise with their highly miffed counterparts in the Senate soon, the most promising housing legislation in years may end up stuck in the ditch for good.
Stockton Williams | Executive Director
Washington Report will return May 29.
In This Issue
- NCSHA-Coordinated Coalition Recommends BABA Implementation Improvements
- Two HFA Programs Among Runners-Up for Ivory Housing Affordability Prizes
- House Releases Updated 21st Century ROAD to Housing Legislation Text
- HUD Appropriations Subcommittees Press Secretary Turner on HUD Budget
- HUD Publishes $158 Million Section 811 NOFO
- Looking Ahead
NCSHA-Coordinated Coalition Recommends BABA Implementation Improvements
This week, NCSHA released a statement endorsed by nearly 100 businesses and organizations across the nation, including nearly all major national housing industry groups, succinctly describing why Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements and the implementation system the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Made in America Office within the White House Office of Management and Budget have put in place have created barriers to affordable housing production. The statement includes a comprehensive proposal on how the administration could improve BABA implementation for affordable housing while still supporting domestic manufacturing. NCSHA sent the statement and proposal to all congressional offices and is doing outreach to the administration to encourage the proposal’s adoption.
Two HFA Programs Among Runners-Up for Ivory Housing Affordability Prizes
The Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Access Plus Program and the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority-administered State of Colorado Innovative Housing Incentive Program were among the runners-up for the 2026 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability, recognizing the most innovative, feasible, and scalable solutions addressing the nation’s housing affordability crisis. The annual competition is hosted by Ivory Innovations, a foundation and research center based at the University of Utah. This year’s winners were announced May 12 and included:
Construction & Design Category
- TradesFutures: A national workforce nonprofit that supports the country’s largest network of construction pre-apprenticeship programs through a standardized, board-approved curriculum aligned with apprenticeship readiness.
Policy Category (Co-Winners)
- City of Chattanooga Affordable Housing PILOT: A per-unit tax abatement program that incentivizes mixed-income affordable housing production without direct public subsidy.
- City of New Rochelle Zoning and Permitting Innovations: A comprehensive zoning, permitting, and public-private development framework that has accelerated mixed-income housing production citywide.
Finance Category
- City of Boston Acquisition Fund: Administered by the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation and backed by a coalition of public agencies, hospitals, and philanthropies, the Boston Acquisition Fund offers below-market-rate loans with streamlined underwriting, enabling nonprofit developers and community land trusts to compete with other investors.
Learn more about the Ivory Prize and the 2026 winners and entries here.
House Releases Updated 21st Century ROAD to Housing Legislation Text
As reported above, the House of Representatives this week released a new version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to amend the Senate-passed version of the legislation. Prior to its release, President Trump posted on social media calling on the House to pass the Senate’s bill, but given objections from House members on both sides of the aisle, House leadership instead moved ahead with releasing its own version of the bill, which the House could vote on as early as next week. Should it pass the House, the Senate would then need to decide whether to take up the House-passed bill, continue to push the House to pass the version the Senate passed in March, or seek further negotiations.
The bill includes nearly all NCSHA’s priorities, including some that were in the Senate-passed bill but not in previous House versions of the legislation. These include reauthorization and all reforms to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program that were part of the Senate bill, but this House bill also includes language directing the HUD Secretary to review and revise Build America, Buy America guidance and changes to environmental review requirements for HOME that had been left out of the Senate bill. It also includes the increase to the public welfare investment cap on bank investments, which has been part of previous versions of the legislation in both the House and Senate, and a provision allowing decoupling of rural rental assistance from underlying Section 514, 515, and 516 mortgages, which is in the Senate bill but not previous House versions. NCSHA issued this statement supporting the House bill.
Both the House and Senate versions of the legislation include a section enacting the White House’s priority to prevent institutional investors from competing with individual home buyers to purchase single-family homes; however, the House bill provides an explicit carve out for single-family rental housing financed with the Housing Credit, as NCSHA had requested. The House bill also does not apply the Senate bill’s requirement that institutional investor owners of build-to-rent properties sell those homes to individual buyers within seven years.
According to Politico, the White House on Thursday sent it a statement saying the House bill is under review and may contain “serious policy concerns or implementation challenges.” For more information, see NCSHA’s blog.
HUD Appropriations Subcommittees Press Secretary Turner on HUD Budget
This week, HUD Secretary Scott Turner testified before the House and Senate subcommittees with jurisdiction over HUD’s annual appropriations to discuss the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request. Republicans and Democrats in both chambers raised concerns with components of HUD’s budget proposal, including elimination of or reductions in funding for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Continuum of Care homelessness assistance, Community Development Block Grants, and Native American housing programs.
There was also significant bipartisan agreement the HUD budget request was insufficient to tackle the housing affordability issues impacting the country and predictions the subcommittees would provide more funding than HUD requested. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) questioned Turner on HUD’s implementation of the Build America, Buy America Act, claiming BABA requirements are impeding the development of affordable housing in Maine and HUD’s waiver process for BABA “is a black hole where affordable housing dies.” Subcommittee Chair Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) told Turner the “BABA waiver process needs to be clarified and it needs to be improved.”
HUD Publishes $158 Million Section 811 NOFO
On Monday, HUD announced a notice of funding opportunity for the FY26 Section 811 Project Rental Assistance program. In this round of funding, HUD anticipates awarding $158 million to 16 HFAs or state entities responsible for allocating the HOME Investment Partnerships Program or the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Grant funds will be used to provide project-based rental assistance for extremely low-income people with disabilities requiring long-term services and support. Applications are due by July 13.
Legislative and Regulatory Activities
- May 25 | Comments Due to NCSHA | HUD Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: HOME Final Rule
- June 1 | Comments Due | HUD Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: HOME Final Rule
- June 5 | Comments Due to NCSHA | Bank Regulators’ Proposed Rules: Bank Capital Requirements
- June 15 | Comments Due to NCSHA | HUD Proposed Rule: Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions
- June 18 | Comments Due | Bank Regulators’ Proposed Rules: Bank Capital Requirements
- June 29 | Comments Due | HUD Proposed Rule: Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions
State and Industry Events
- May 18 – 20 | Montana Housing Partnership Conference | Anaconda, MT
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - June 2 – 5 | NCSHA’s Housing Credit Connect & Marketplace 2026 | St. Louis, MO
- June 9 – 10 | CAHEC Partners Conference | Raleigh, NC
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - June 18, 1:00 – 5:00 pm ET | NCSHA Webinar: Implementing BABA in Affordable Housing | Register
