Congress passes largest housing affordability bill in a generation

Congress has passed the most sweeping federal housing package in a generation, and it's headed to President Trump's desk with something that has been in short supply in Washington: bipartisan support. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act, which cleared the Senate 85-5 on Monday and passed the House on Tuesday, is the first major bipartisan action by Congress since the 2024 elections to address the soaring cost of living that helped drive Trump back to the White House.

The scope of the problem is staggering. The median price of a single-family home in the Boston area topped $1 million this spring. A Bank of America Institute report released Tuesday found that 58% of Americans now say expensive home prices are the biggest barrier to a purchase, up from 46% just last year. The median age of a first-time homebuyer has reached an all-time high. Young people are delaying marriage, delaying having children, and delaying putting down roots — not because they lack ambition, as Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina put it on the Senate floor, but because "housing prices are too darn high and housing supply too low."

The bill addresses that supply crisis through 47 housing provisions compiled from dozens of Democratic and Republican lawmakers. It's a compilation rather than a single grand plan, and that's by design. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who partnered with Scott on the Senate version, said the concept came from meeting with mayors across Massachusetts who told her the federal government needed to help, but didn't need to impose a single solution. "What's needed out on the Cape is not what's needed in Pittsfield," Warren said. "What would be helpful in Boston is different than what would be helpful in West Springfield. That's where I began to think of a basket of changes."

The basket includes several significant reforms. First, it eliminates a five-decade-old federal requirement that manufactured homes be built on a permanent steel chassis — essentially requiring them to have wheels even though most owners never move them once they're installed. Removing the chassis requirement could reduce the cost of each manufactured home by $5,000 to $10,000, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, while also opening up more zoning areas where these homes can be placed.

Second, the bill includes a first-of-its-kind restriction on private equity: it bars large institutional investors who already own 350 or more single-family homes from buying additional properties. The provision originated from a Trump executive order in January aimed at stopping "Wall Street from competing with main street homebuyers," and it reflects a growing bipartisan consensus that institutional buyers have distorted the housing market. The compromise between the House and Senate versions dropped a requirement that institutional investors sell their rental properties after seven years, but kept the tough new restrictions on future purchases.

Warren didn't mince words about the target: "Never has Congress said to private equity in any industry — healthcare, manufacturing, retail sales — enough. You can't just keep mowing through one part of our economy after another sucking out all the profits for yourselves and leaving nothing but misery behind."

Third, the bill creates federal incentives for local communities to reform zoning and permitting restrictions, which housing experts identify as the root cause of the homebuilding slowdown. A 2025 Goldman Sachs report estimated that relaxing land-use regulations could add 2.5 million housing units over the next decade. The legislation offers communities federal grants for infrastructure — schools, sewage treatment plants, roads — if they authorize more housing construction. It also funds the development of pre-approved housing designs, or pattern books, to speed up local construction approvals.

Fourth, the bill addresses the aging housing stock by authorizing a pilot program of grants and forgivable loans for home repairs, and by making it easier to convert vacant office buildings into apartments — a practical response to the remote and hybrid work revolution that has left many commercial properties empty.

The political dynamics are worth noting. This is the same Congress that has struggled to pass war powers resolutions, that is deeply divided over Iran funding, and where bipartisan cooperation has been the exception rather than the rule. But housing affordability is an issue that cuts across every district in the country. As David Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference, put it: "The bill came together because no one wanted to go back home and explain to their constituents why a bill with such deep, broad bipartisan support couldn't actually pass."

Both parties are already spinning the win. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called it "just the latest item on Republicans' agenda to address the cost of living," citing last year's tax cut legislation. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said his party would continue working to lower costs of "necessities that working families need to achieve the American dream, which seems more out of reach than ever before because of this administration."

Warren is already working on what she calls "Road to Housing part two," acknowledging that this bill is a first step, not a complete solution. TD Cowen's Jaret Seiberg noted that the legislation "does not address labor shortages" and "does not provide funding improvements that could encourage construction of lower-cost single-family units." Dworkin offered the most realistic assessment: "No one of these is going to have a huge impact on the affordable housing crisis, but collectively they absolutely will make a significant contribution. We did not get into this hole overnight. We dug it over 15 years, and we're going to get out of it the same way, one shovel at a time."

What This Means For You: If you've been priced out of the housing market, this bill won't immediately change your situation — but it sets the table. The manufactured home chassis reform alone could save buyers $5,000-$10,000 per unit. The private equity restrictions, while not requiring divestment of existing portfolios, will slow the pace of institutional buying that has been crowding out individual homebuyers. The zoning reform incentives could unlock housing construction in communities that have been effectively closed to new building for decades. If you're a renter, watch for your local government to start applying for the federal infrastructure grants tied to housing construction — that's where the rental supply increase will come from. And if you own a home that needs repairs but you can't afford them, the pilot grant program for home repair may be worth tracking. This bill is a foundation, not a finished house. But for the first time in a generation, Congress has actually laid the foundation.