Senate Passes Road to Housing Act as Part of Defense Authorization Bill
Landmark Housing Legislation Advanced Through Bipartisan Defense Package
Last night, the Senate passed the Road to Housing Act as part of the annual Defense Authorization Bill. This strategic move continues a streak of positive developments for housing legislation. It is also another acknowledgment by Congress of the housing crisis we have been working to address.
The Road to Housing Act was crafted to expand access to affordable housing, streamline regulatory barriers, and provide enhanced federal assistance for low- and middle-income families. Lawmakers had been debating several pieces of legislation, and under the leadership of Banking Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the final bill was approved by the Banking Committee by an unprecedented 24-0 vote a few months ago.
Key provisions of the Act include:
Raising the Public Welfare Investment (PWI) cap for banks from 15% to 20%.
Eliminates the cap on RAD units.
Eliminate unnecessary red tape that gets in the way of new housing construction.
Incentivize and support local communities to build more housing supply.
Pave the way for more modular and manufactured housing construction and preserve affordable manufactured housing communities.
Preserves and expands housing options for veterans in rural areas;
Reduces homelessness;
Expands access to homeownership;
Helps communities recovering from disasters rebuild housing and more.
You can find a section-by-section summary here. Chairman Scott’s statement regarding the passage of the bill here. Ranking Member Warren’s statement can be found here.
The bill now advances to the House of Representatives, where the NDAA differs from the Senate version, and the House Financial Services Committee has yet to finalize its housing bill. As we have reported a number of times, Housing Subcommittee Chairman Mike Flood (R-NE) is working on a number of bipartisan housing bills that could lay the foundation for a big housing bill. A hearing had been in the works for this month, but was derailed by the current government shutdown.
More to come.