WASHINGTON D.C. — The House of Representatives released on May 14 an amended version of the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” a broad, bipartisan housing package aimed at addressing the national affordable housing shortage. 

The bill includes 57 provisions related to housing supply, manufactured housing, mortgage financing, rural housing, veterans’ housing, and community banking.

The House's amended bill got immediate support from at least two industry groups. The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association released a statement supporting the revised Bipartisan Housing package released by lawmakers.

The group praised the U.S. House Financial Services Committee's revised text of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. "While no one legislative solution can address the U.S.’s housing affordability challenges overnight, the legislation represents Congress’s most significant attempt to address housing affordability and supply constraints in several decades,” the organization said. 

“The revised House text removes a potentially harmful provision from the Senate-passed bill that would have required certain build-to-rent investors to sell properties after seven years. Removing the provision helps keep the legislation focused on expanding housing supply without discouraging private investment in new housing.”

Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio, also commended House leaders for reaching an agreement to amend the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. 

“We urge House members to pass this landmark legislation and ask the Senate to approve this compromise swiftly. Solving our nation’s housing crisis is truly a bipartisan issue, and NAHB has been encouraged by the collaboration between leaders in both parties to pass legislation that comprises the shared goal of President Trump and Congress to increase the supply of attainable housing. The House amendment reflects that effort.

“Now is the time for Congress and the president to work together to bring greater certainty to the housing market and let builders build.”

Not all groups were totally satisfied. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition was unhappy that some items in the Senate bill were not included in the House version. "The amended House bill does not include the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, a top priority for NLIHC, which is included in the Senate package.  In addition, the bill does not include provisions from the Senate’s bill related to the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and the Moving to Work (MTW) program; NLIHC opposes these provisions."

What changes were made

According to a summary of the legislation, the bill increases the statutory maximum loan limits for mortgage insurance programs administered by the Federal Housing Administration for multifamily homes and requires the use of a more specific inflation index for such loans.

The summary said the bill increases the maximum eligible income for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (grants to states and localities to support housing for low-income households) and establishes a grant program to assist regional, state, and local entities with strategies to support affordable housing.

In addition, the bill reportedly: 

• Exempts certain housing-related activities from the environmental review process, including certain construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of residential buildings;
• excludes veterans' disability benefits from being considered as income for purposes of determining eligibility for the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program;
• establishes a pilot program to provide grants to public housing agencies (PHAs) and other owners of federally assisted housing to test the efficacy of temperature sensors to support compliance with temperature requirements;
• eliminates the requirement that manufactured homes must be constructed with a permanent chassis; and
  authorizes HUD to conduct performance reviews of organizations that provide housing counseling services.
• The bill also expands oversight of HUD and PHAs, such as by requiring PHAs to post information about contracts on their websites.