Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren have announced a legislative markup on the bipartisan housing package, “The ROAD to Housing Act of 2025.”
The measure aims to boost the nation’s housing supply, improve housing affordability, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs. The executive session is the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’ first bipartisan housing markup in more than a decade.
“With this historic bipartisan bill, we are taking a critical first step to bring down families’ number one monthly expense–housing costs,” said Sen. Warren. “I’ve been calling on Congress to address our nation’s housing shortage for years, and I’m proud to work with Chair Scott and our entire Committee to put forward legislation that will boost housing supply, reduce homelessness, and expand homeownership for families.”
The “ROAD to Housing Act of 2025” is a comprehensive proposal drafted to:
- Remove regulatory barriers to housing development
- Increase and preserve existing housing
- Promote innovative construction methods, including to expand access to modular and manufactured housing
- Addresses neighborhood blight and supports communities recovering from natural disasters
- Expand access to homeownership
- Improve housing affordability
- Promote housing opportunities for veterans
- Reduce homelessness
- Reduce appraisal shortages while addressing inaccurate appraisals
- Ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently
- Promote evidence-based policy solutions
- Strengthen oversight of housing regulators
- Streamline program coordination
- Ensure performance, transparency, and accountability across housing programs
“America’s housing crisis has been silent for too long, but it’s silent no more—and the Senate has heard the voices of so many Americans struggling with high housing costs loud and clear,” said Ron Terwilliger, Founder, J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy, Bipartisan Policy Center. “The growing challenges of housing affordability and lack of adequate supply demand action, and it’s heartening to see senators from both sides of the aisle respond with meaningful solutions. Many of the bills in this package closely align with the priorities we have identified in our American Housing Act of 2025, showing that Congress can find common ground on an issue that impacts so many. I applaud Chairman Tim Scott, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee for advancing policies that will help address our nation’s housing shortage and improve affordability.”
In a letter supporting the measure, Bill Killmer, SVP of Legislative and Political Affairs for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), said: “MBA supports this proposal designed to address the nation’s housing affordability challenges. These problems demand the focused attention of Congress and the federal agencies that regulate key aspects of the housing ecosystem. Both legislative and regulatory reforms are needed to appropriately improve affordability and address the nation’s housing supply shortage, so we strongly support building a bipartisan consensus on these issues to promote the enactment of workable solutions.”
Kevin M. Sears, 2025 President of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), added: “On behalf of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), I write to express our strong support for the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025 (ROAD to Housing Act). We commend your leadership in crafting this landmark, comprehensive piece of legislation that addresses the full spectrum of housing needs while prioritizing pathways to homeownership for American families. NAR previously endorsed many of these provisions as standalone measures, and we appreciate this collaborative approach to addressing our nation’s housing challenges.”
Enhancing Housing Opportunity Nationwide
Some of the major bullet points of the ROAD to Housing Act enhancing and building upon prior measures include:
- Section 101-Reforms to Housing Counseling and Financial Literacy Programs: This Section allows the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to review the performance of housing counseling agencies and counselors. If a counselor’s performance falls short, HUD may require additional training and provide opportunities to demonstrate improvement. Counselors found to be consistently out of compliance may be subject to enhanced oversight or lose their certification.
- Section 202-Increasing Housing in Opportunity Zones: This Section enables the HUD Secretary to give added weight to applicants for competitive HUD grants that are located in, or primarily serve, designated Opportunity Zones to support housing preservation and construction.
- Section 207–Better Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development (BUILD) Housing Act: This Section cuts red tape around environmental reviews, empowering states, local governments, and Indian tribes to streamline reviews and increase housing development.
- Section 208–Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act: This section right-sizes National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review for small and infill housing projects, which will simplify the review process and get projects to construction faster.
- Section 213–Housing Affordability Act: This section requires the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to study multifamily loan limits and then grants HUD rulemaking authority, with FHA input, to adjust those limits to better match housing market costs and enhance affordability.
- Section 401–Creating Incentives for Small Dollar Loan Originators: This Section requires the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue a report to Congress studying the effect of various factors of loan originator compensation on the availability of small-dollar mortgage loans and to assess the barriers they pose to the availability of small-dollar mortgages to consumers. It also gives the CFPB the flexibility to amend rules to encourage small-dollar loan origination.
- Section 402–Small Dollar Mortgage Points and Fees: This Section requires that the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) evaluate the impact of existing small-dollar mortgages.
- Section 403–Appraisal Industry Improvement Act: This Section helps bolster the appraiser workforce capacity, including by allowing both licensed and credentialed appraisers to conduct appraisals for FHA-insured mortgage lending transactions.
Click here for a section-by-section breakdown of the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025.
Industry Reaction and Support
As the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025 undergoes a legislative markup, key stakeholders have come out in support of the legislation and are voicing their support for the measure.
Lake A. Coulson, SVP & Chief Lobbyist at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), commented: “On behalf of the more than 140,000 members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), I am writing to support the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025. This comprehensive package will take a significant step forward toward addressing our nation’s critical lack of housing supply. Specifically, NAHB is encouraged that the legislation includes favorable provisions aimed at zoning and land-use policies, the aging housing stock, rural housing, and multifamily housing.”
Robert Pinnegar, President & CEO of the National Apartment Association (NAA), said: “Renters and housing providers can no longer afford the gap between rhetoric and real solutions. The ROAD to Housing Act takes critical steps forward by simplifying voucher inspections and cutting the red tape that delays projects. This bill has the potential to drive faster production, reduce costs and expand opportunities across the country.”
David M. Dworkin, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), released the following statement in support of the Act: “The housing affordability crisis has impacted every community in America, regardless of politics or geography. It requires urgent, bipartisan, comprehensive action. I am grateful to Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren for their leadership in crafting and advancing the ROAD to Housing Act, which seeks to expand and preserve housing supply, improve housing affordability and access, advance accountability and fiscal responsibility, and improve oversight and program integrity.”
The post Bipartisan Housing Bill Nears Senate Floor Vote first appeared on The MortgagePoint.
