HOME Reform Act of 2025 Introduced
We wanted to update you on the HOME Reform Act of 2025. On Tuesday, October 21, Congressman Flood (R-NE), who serves as the Chair of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, and Congressman Cleaver (D-MO), the Ranking Member on the subcommittee, formally introduced their bill to amend the HOME program as well as other parts of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act.
We have been working with staff on this proposal since the spring, and we are excited about the many forward-thinking provisions for both the HOME program, regulatory reform steps, and workforce housing.
This bipartisan bill aims to encourage expansion of the supply of affordable housing by making regulatory changes that would lower the per-unit cost of rental housing and expand housing availability.
Some of the key provisions of the bill include:
Raises the threshold at which Davis-Bacon applies from 12 units to 24 units.
Eliminates the applicability of Build America, Buy America Act requirements
Amends environment review requirements under NEPA to exclude:
New construction infill housing projects.
Acquisition of real property for affordable housing purposes.
Rehabilitation projects carried out pursuant to section 212(a) (1) and,
New construction projects of 15 units or less.
Adds workforce-income families to the purpose section of Cranston-Gonzalez to make clear that the program’s focus should be shifted from solely low-income housing to both low-income and workforce-income housing, by raising the AMI limits to 100%.
Allows for housing for homeownership that is occupied by a workforce-income family earning up to 100% of AMI to qualify as affordable housing under the statute.
Adjusts resale restrictions for single-family homes that receive HOME assistance to be open to workforce-income homebuyers.
Makes other technical changes clarifying that uses of HOME dollars for single-family homeownership investment or repair are open to workforce-income families.
Chairman Flood and Ranking Member Cleaver are pushing for a hearing and markup of the bipartisan housing legislation when the current government shutdown ends. While we hope for quick action on this and other housing bills in the House, we question whether the House can complete its work on housing by the end of the calendar year. This would suggest a conference with the Senate on the House support bills and the ROAD to Housing Act, passed by the Senate a week ago, would likely be pushed into the first quarter of 2026. We will keep you posted as this legislation and other housing proposals in the House are scheduled for markup.