Congress passes housing bill to boost supply and curb investors, sending it to Trump
The House voted 358-32 to pass the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, a sprawling package aimed at easing the housing crisis by boosting supply and limiting large-scale investor purchases. The bill now goes to President Trump, who is expected to sign it.
Bipartisan vote sends bill to Trump
The House passed the 21st Century Road to Housing Act on Tuesday by a 358-32 vote, following the Senate's 85-5 approval on Monday. The bill now goes to President Trump, who is expected to sign it quickly. The legislation is the most comprehensive housing package in decades, combining nearly 50 provisions from both parties.
- Senate passes the 21st Century Road to Housing Act 85-5.
- House passes the bill 358-32.
- President Trump expected to sign the bill into law.
What the bill does
The centerpiece is a ban on large institutional investors buying more single-family homes. If a firm already owns at least 350 houses, it cannot acquire additional ones. The provision was watered down from an earlier version that would have forced divestiture, but Senator Elizabeth Warren called it a meaningful first step. Other measures streamline federal regulations, reward localities that build more housing by shifting existing funding, and make it easier to construct manufactured homes.
Road to housing is the first time that Congress has said to private equity, 'Enough: You don't get to move in to one neighborhood after another in America, and turn us from a nation of owners to a nation of renters'.
What it leaves untouched
The bill does not address the two biggest immediate barriers for homebuyers: high mortgage rates and steep home prices. The average 30-year mortgage rate is about 6.5%, up from earlier this year due to the war in Iran, and a family needs roughly $117,000 in annual income to afford a typical home, about $30,000 more than the median household income. Senator Tim Scott, a Republican co-sponsor, acknowledged that lawmakers cannot control the interest rate environment, which is tied to the 10-year Treasury yield and Federal Reserve policy.
We don't control the interest rate environment. There's nothing that this bill could do to control the Federal Reserve, so that's probably good news. People want an independent Fed.
The supply gap
The U.S. is short more than 4 million housing units, according to Realtor.com, and the bill's supporters argue that boosting supply is the only long-term fix. Jeanna Kenney, an economist at Villanova University, said anything that makes building easier will help. Former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan called the bill the most important housing legislation of the century.
Supply is the key problem here. Anything you can do to make supply easier is going to be helpful in the long term.
It is the most important and most comprehensive housing bill of this century. It contains dozens of provisions that, taken together, go directly at the most important housing challenge of this moment, which is our housing supply.
Political timing
The bill's passage comes months before the midterm elections, with President Trump's approval rating on the economy at just 33% in a recent New York Times/Siena poll. Lawmakers from both parties see housing affordability as a top voter concern, and the rare bipartisan deal offers a concrete achievement to campaign on.
