Let’s Help Congress Finalize a Strong Housing Bill

Congress is currently considering a legislative package that could improve the next decade of housing in America.

With an encouraging amount of bipartisan support and common ground, the recent passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in the House as well as the Senate’s ongoing discussions about the bill have bolstered hopes for strong action to address our national housing challenges.

Now that lawmakers are back in session, they must urgently address some lingering differences between the House and Senate versions or risk losing this significant opportunity.

The good news is that both the House and Senate have passed bills that contain many key provisions, including raising the cap on bank public welfare investments, streamlining environmental reviews for certain housing activities and modernizing the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME Program).

The House bill passed at the end of May addressed Housing Partnership Network’s (HPN) chief concern with the Senate bill that the ban on institutional investment in single-family homes could also have harmed investment in much needed low-income housing tax credits.

We support the bipartisan provisions to improve the USDA Rural Housing Services. Both the House and Senate bills speak to efforts to expand and improve rural housing options and, importantly, decouple rental assistance from multifamily mortgages. This decoupling provision allows owners to preserve affordability for residents even after their mortgages are paid off. Otherwise, the rental assistance is lost.

Our members—affordable housing developers and investors—have consistently prioritized models that keep single-family homes in the hands of residents, ensuring that community-based ownership remains the standard for long-term affordability and stability.

HPN has been deeply engaged in the legislative process, working closely with House and Senate leaders to help them craft a final bill that avoids unintended consequences while addressing housing challenges. HPN supports the House-passed bill and we would like to see Congress continue to work on permanent CBDG-DR authorization and lessen BABA compliance burdens for affordable housing.

We would like to see the final bill reincorporate the permanent authorization and reforms to the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program that were in the Senate bill but were not included in the latest House version. CDBG-DR has distributed more than $100 million over the past 30 years to help communities recover from catastrophic events.

Despite its tremendous value, CDBG-DR must essentially be recreated for each disaster it addresses. It can take years to authorize funding, slowing recovery in places as diverse as the mountains of North Carolina and the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The proposed reforms will narrow those gaps and help restore stability and economic growth in affected communities.

Finally, while both bills address the HOME program, we think the House bill makes important updates that streamline the process, particularly environmental review. The House language also directs HUD to review Build America Buy America (BABA) requirements for HOME-funded projects, and we strongly support a BABA waiver for them.

These are just a handful of the measures included in the two bills, each of which tops 300 pages. The fact that there is a good deal of agreement between the two, as well as significant bipartisan support, is encouraging—though the outcome is by no means assured.

Congress must not let the remaining differences stall progress. For HPN and other housing experts, that means we must continue to help lawmakers understand what it truly takes to build, preserve and operate quality housing, especially when trying to meet the needs of families and seniors who face significant economic stress.

With the right policy tools, housing developers and lenders can address deep affordability concerns across the country, while also driving local economic growth that would not otherwise be possible. Congress has a rare window of bipartisan momentum. Let’s ensure it doesn't close on the very Americans these bills are meant to serve.