Dive Brief:
- The House released a compromise version of the must-pass 2026 National Defense Authorization Act on Sunday that stripped out ROAD to Housing Act provisions, which directed HUD to adopt a slew of practices to boost housing supply. The House passed the bill Wednesday.
- The Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025 is the first bipartisan markup for housing in over a decade, and the Senate’s inclusion of it in the NDAA indicates strong interest in addressing housing supply issues on both sides of the aisle. Still, its ultimate exclusion reflects pushback within the House.
- House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) promised to separately address housing in a Dec. 7 statement, adding, “I share the president’s goals of expanding Americans’ access to housing that fits their needs by reducing regulatory roadblocks to development, increasing housing supply and choice, and strengthening accountability.”
Dive Insight:
The Financial Services Committee will advance solutions this month that aim to tackle housing cost and access challenges, according to Hill’s statement. Lawmakers could revive bipartisan provisions in a standalone bill or add them to another critical legislative package.
“Next year, we look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to send a bill to the president’s desk that reflects the views of both chambers and leads to more affordable choices for America’s homeowners and renters,” Hill said.
S.2651 passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in late July, with the support of housing industry groups such as the National Association of Home Builders. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chairman Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) both lead the committee.
According to Warren, in a Dec. 7 statement, the fight to get the ROAD to Housing Act signed into law isn’t over.
“Donald Trump claims he wants to build more housing and lower housing costs, but his allies in the House just axed a bipartisan bill that unanimously passed the Senate to do just that,” Warren said. “If House Republicans continue to block legislation to cut housing costs in 2026, then Democrats will pass it ourselves when we take back Congress."
NAHB urged the House and Senate to work together to pass a major housing package early next year that increases the nation’s housing supply.
"To help stimulate construction of sorely needed housing, leaders in both chambers of Congress need to agree on a bipartisan bill that improves zoning and land-use policies, single-family housing, multifamily housing, rural housing, and our aging housing stock," NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes said in emailed comments to Multifamily Dive.
The bill text incorporates part of at least 27 previously introduced pieces of legislation, most of which had bipartisan sponsorship. Most of the provisions aim to make the process of building housing easier on the local level, with the goal of increasing supply and ultimately easing prices.
Section 208 rolls back the National Environmental Protection Act review process for small and infill housing projects, while Section 202 requires the agency to prioritize grant awards to recipients in Opportunity Zones
The bill also permanently authorizes HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program, which provides resources to states, tribes and localities to rebuild housing after a natural disaster. Currently, Congress has to reauthorize the program regularly or after a disaster.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the NAHB and to note that the House passed the NDAA.
Correction: Sen. Warren's role in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has been updated.
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