Now that the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is law, federal agencies are beginning the lengthy work of implementation on one of the most comprehensive pieces of housing legislation in decades.
ROAD contains about 60 measures that modernize federal housing programs and streamline regulation, incentivize local housing action and expand affordable housing financing, according to Kristen Klurfield, associate director for the J. Ronald Terwilliger Housing Policy Center at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The legislation calls for 12 new programs, changes to regulations and new public reporting requirements, “all of which require capacity at the federal level,” Klurfield said in a September webinar about ROAD hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has been heavily involved in shaping and advancing the law.
Although some measures went into effect immediately, many others will require funding and rulemaking from Congress, and it will likely take more than a year to start seeing a real impact from the law, experts said.
Funding and staffing challenges
ROAD creates authority for many new programs, but it doesn't fund them, according to Aaron Shroyer, a Terner Center Policy Fellow and director of policy and advocacy at the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders.
“Nothing from ROAD was self-executing. So nothing takes effect on its own,” Shroyer said in the webinar. “Before ROAD can reach the people and the places that it's supposed to reach, federal agencies have to write rules, issue guidance, stand up programs, etc. All of those actions contain hidden work that doesn't show up in the statute.”
One challenge ahead is whether HUD can stand up those new programs without additional appropriations from Congress, according to Klurfield. Since the House Appropriations Committee already passed its FY 2027 funding bill before ROAD became law, “it’s possible that many of the programs in ROAD will not receive funding until fiscal year 2028, at the earliest.”
Some of the rules that HUD was tasked with from ROAD could go final as soon as early 2028, but “it’s important to note that HUD is doing more work with fewer people,” Shroyer said.
ROAD still needs a lot of implementation, and it will be done with “underfunded and overstretched agencies,” Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.), an advocate for the bill and other housing legislation, told Multifamily Dive.
“HUD has had staffing reductions of over 30% in some of their key offices, and HUD is responsible for 70% of the implementation of 21st Century ROAD, so unfortunately, the DOGE cuts that the Trump administration enacted a year or so ago are really coming back to bite them and to bite all of us,” Harder said.
Key provisions for multifamily
Some ROAD measures did take effect right away, including Section 405: Choice in Affordable Housing Act, which will make HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher program “more appealing to landlords by streamlining and simplifying the inspections process,” according to Klurfield.
The measure still requires interagency guidance, and after that, it’s up to public housing authorities to adopt these provisions in their plans with HUD and ensure they're implemented properly, Nicole Upano, assistant vice president of Housing Policy and Regulatory Affairs at the National Apartment Association, told Multifamily Dive.
“Being able to reduce the inspections burden by having one past inspection in a single year versus multiple, and then also reducing not just the housing provider but renters’ recertification burden as well, we are very excited about this provision,” Upano said.
Another key measure is Section 501: HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Reform Act, which reauthorizes the federal block grant program and gives communities more flexibility to use those funds to develop affordable housing and related infrastructure. It also streamlines environmental and administrative mandates. Although it’s technically in effect, it “is ultimately up to HUD in terms of rulemaking and to create the framework for that,” Upano said.
Looking ahead, Section 102: Federal guidelines for point-access block buildings directs HUD to produce model code language for multifamily buildings of up to six stories with a single stairwell. Jurisdictions like California have been mulling similar single-stairwell changes to their building codes, Smart Cities Dive reported. “Only three major cities in the country allow for buildings up to six stories, so that would be a tremendous win to get that adopted nationally,” Upano said.
Section 107: The Housing Supply Frameworks Act directs HUD to put together a panel of experts to create guidelines and model legislation to help reduce the barriers to development. “Including local officials as partners in that will be critical to getting widely spread adoption of those policies across the country,” Upano said.
Other measures that impact Community Development Block Grants and the National Environmental Policy Act “will require rulemaking or be triggered by rulemaking, and so there's a long road ahead there as well,” according to Upano.
Ongoing uncertainty in major investor ban
An earlier iteration of ROAD had language in Section 1001: Homes are for people, not corporations, that the housing industry said would effectively eliminate the production of build-to-rent single-family housing. That major investor ban language was ultimately stripped out for BTR, but some uncertainty remains.
“We did see a bit of pullback in terms of development and investment as conversations about the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act were happening and still fluid, and we're seeing some recovery there,” Upano said. Now, “we are very much interested in the implementation.”
In July, just days after the bill became law, NAA and industry partners sent a letter to the Treasury requesting a technical clarification of the build-to-rent exemption.
“In our opinion, the exemption is imperfect. It clearly protects newly constructed build-to-rent, and exempts those from the purchase limitations, but not existing communities,” Upano said. However, the fix is just a matter of “moving some semicolons and adjusting the formatting.”
The measure also requires tenants to be alerted to HUD's new renter hotline, which is currently under development. “Those notification requirements have to be done when they move in, and then annually thereafter,” Upano said. “So folks are just trying to understand how to stay within the bounds of the law, and what their compliance responsibilities are.”
There will soon be a chance to weigh in. HUD reported that the White House’s rulemaking review concluded on Oct. 13 and the rule is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 7, 2027. That means some version of the proposed rule should be out for public comment in the next month or so, and will hopefully offer “some sense of what the framework looks like for the institutional investor ban from Treasury's perspective,” Upano said.
The ROAD ahead
Many of ROAD’s measures should help projects pencil out at the margin by shortening development timelines and maybe attracting capital as a result, according to Roger Ashworth, head of research and data at New York City-based investment firm Saluda Grade.
However, that “doesn't change the main year-term constraints” such as high interest rates, insurance, taxes, labor, materials, land and local zoning, Ashworth said. ROAD is “going to be constructed over time, but probably the impact to this year and next year’s fundamentals is kind of limited.”
Now that ROAD is being rolled out, NAA Assistant Vice President of Federal Legislative Affairs Owen Caine urged apartment pros to give their elected officials and trade associations feedback on what is and isn’t working.
“Without that knowledge of, on the ground, how these things are playing out on a day-to-day basis, Congress is kind of just shooting in the dark,” Caine said. “The more people that can make their concerns heard, especially to Congress, I think the more likely we are to see positive action.”
State and local governments will also have a major impact on how effectively the law closes the supply gap, according to Klurfield, and midterm elections could change the balance of power in Congress.
“The question just is, does the administration and Congress have the same vision moving forward, whatever that vision may be, and is it aligned enough that people are actually seeing those positive results?” Caine said. “The housing discussion is not done just because ROAD got passed.”
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