U.S. House Passes Amended 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, Sends Bill to Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amended version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on Wednesday by a vote of 396–13, sending the bipartisan housing package to the Senate for further action.

The bill aims to boost supply and improve affordability by giving communities new tools and resources to build more homes, streamlining federal processes that delay construction, and updating financing options for manufactured and rural housing.

CNBC

The National Association of REALTORS® said its research shows that 85% of Americans still say owning a home is an essential part of the American dream, and it urged the Senate to advance the legislation and send it to the president’s desk.

House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill and ranking member Maxine Waters were credited with leadership on the measure, and Politico reported the House won President Donald Trump’s backing on some key provisions less than 24 hours before the vote.

Politico reported that the package includes language aimed at restricting Wall Street’s ability to own single-family homes, with the Senate pushing for broader limits on so-called institutional investors and an additional requirement that single-family homes built by mega-landlords as long-term rentals be sold to individual homeowners after seven years.

CNN said the House version takes a softer approach to restricting institutional investors from buying single-family homes than the Senate proposal, while still requiring reconciliation between the two chambers before the bill reaches President Donald Trump’s desk.

CNN

CNN also reported that the Senate’s proposal would ban investors and companies from buying single-family homes if they already own 350 or more and would target build-to-rent by requiring developers to sell those homes within seven years.

In contrast, the House measure passed Wednesday keeps the Senate’s broader limits on institutional investors purchasing single-family homes but eliminates the requirement that investors sell build-to-rent and renovate-to-rent properties and instead creates a hotline for tenants living in properties owned by large institutional investors.

Both CNN and NPR said the House and Senate must agree on a single version before the bill can be sent to President Donald Trump for signature, with the Senate needing to reconcile differences over institutional investors and build-to-rent provisions.

“The House passed a sweeping housing bill backed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, handing Republicans a potential affordability win ahead of November’s midterms”

Fox News

NPR reported that the House version says any group that owns more than 350 houses would not be allowed to buy more single-family homes, while the Senate version included a path for investors to own homes by building “build-to-rent” units and required those large-scale landlords to sell off their build-to-rent homes to families after seven years.

NPR also quoted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., calling the bill a “meatball” because it combines provisions championed by Republicans and Democrats in both chambers, and it said Warren told NPR, “It’s got a lot of different ingredients in it, but it’s the fact that it’s all there together is what makes it so delicious.”

The Center Square reported that the House-revised version leaves much of the Senate-passed version untouched, including a ban on large institutional investors defined as entities that own more than 350 housing units from purchasing single-family homes for the next 15 years, while axing the seven-year forced-sale provision.