Major Housing Affordability Bill Advances in Congress, Setting Up Final Senate Vote

The House moved to codify its changes in the bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act on Wednesday, pushing the major housing reform package closer to the finish line.

The House voted 396-13 to advance the multipart bill with a series of amendments it added over the last few weeks. The 13 votes in opposition were all from Republicans, although party leaders supported the bill.

The House adjustments tweak some additions the Senate inserted into the bill, setting up a potential for the two chambers to hammer out remaining differences. Significantly, the House version removes a provision that would have forced large investors to sell built-to-rent homes after seven years, a measure critics argued would reduce investment in new housing.

The next step for the bill is for the Senate to concur with the House's amendments. The bill could then head to President Donald Trump's desk.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, said "hundreds" of members and stakeholders have reached out with concerns on the Senate version of the bill. The House amendments were made to ensure the bill does not "unintentionally" lower housing affordability, he said.

"This has been years of work in the making, and months of intensive work in this 119th Congress to find a path that improves accessibility and affordability for the American people that can be a bicameral, bipartisan housing measure," Hill said.

"This amendment today, that amends the good work of the Senate, accomplishes that," Hill said.

A jab at the Senate

The House passed its first version of the bill in February. The Senate passed its own draft in March, but its version was more expansive and included an investor ban among many other provisions. The chambers must come to agreement before the bill can advance to the White House.

House members objected to several Senate changes. Some language in the investor ban worried members in the House. Many real estate groups and industry names publicly said it could stifle housing development.

Discussing the bill Tuesday night, House leaders emphasized how much bipartisan effort it took to find the compromise. Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance Chair Rep. Mike Flood, R-Nebraska, and ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, both said their sides didn't get all they wanted in the bargaining.

But they each also chastised the Senate for its changes and amendments to the House version of the bill. Since the House revealed its updated version of the bill, some in the Senate have tried to pressure them to advance its changes.

Waters said the Senate's wording was "unconstitutional" and could lead to thousands of evictions. She said the Senate declined a request for a conference to resolve the differences in the bill.

Flood, meanwhile, posted to X that the Senate version of the bill "caters to the worst impulses of Elizabeth Warren."

Hill, its original sponsor, emphasized how many people in both chambers voted in favor of their respective bills. That, he said, should motivate both chambers of Congress not to dig in their heels.

Trump urged the House to pass the Senate's version and has urged the Congress to advance the bill.

Industry protections

The House version of the bill has more explicit carve-outs for how the investor ban will work. These include, for instance, exceptions for nonprofits, community land trusts, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developers, so those groups aren't penalized.

The negotiations and changes to the bill came right to the last minute, Waters said. Changes include more time for a housing innovation fund, stronger prevailing wage negotiations, and also adding an eviction helpline for HUD. HUD later said it opposed the measure as redundant.

"Our housing bill is the most comprehensive housing reform bill in a generation and is a huge step toward finally addressing the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in our country," Waters said.

Shortly before the vote, Warren and Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, defended their bill in an X post.

"We worked closely with the White House and our colleagues in both chambers on a bill that puts families first and addresses the housing crisis," the Senate Banking Committee said in the statement. "There's still work to be done and we are committed to continue to work with the White House and our colleagues in the House on a housing bill that can pass the Senate and get to the President's desk."

Bill Compromise Draws Industry Support

The vote came as several of the industry organizations that publicly opposed the Senate's wording of the bill came out in support of the House's adjustments. That includes the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Home Builders.

Bill Owens, chairman of NAHB, said the removal of the forced-sale provision allayed its concerns, and called on the Senate to quickly pass the bill. The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition and the Mortgage Bankers Association also said the compromise allayed their concerns.

"This bill reflects the growing bipartisan consensus that the nation needs bold action to expand housing inventory, improve affordability, and create more pathways to homeownership and rental opportunity," Shannon McGahn, chief advocacy officer of the Nationals Association of Realtors, said after the vote.