The House passed a bipartisan, comprehensive housing package Monday aimed at improving the affordability crisis in the U.S. and increasing homeownership.
The legislation, dubbed the Housing for the 21st Century Act, passed the lower chamber by an overwhelming vote of 390-9, The Hill reported.
It is sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA), and it passed the committee by an overwhelming vote in December.
The Hill reported that the legislation includes more than 20 provisions that would direct the Government Accountability Office to study gaps in federal housing programs and modernize the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, among other actions.
Bill Moves on to the Senate
“When there aren’t enough homes, prices go up. The Housing for the 21st Century Act includes real, bipartisan solutions to boost development by clearing out red tape and letting communities and local banks do their job. That’s how we expand supply, lower costs, and give families more options,” Hill, along with Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), wrote in an op-ed for The Hill last week.
The bill moves on to the Senate, where lawmakers will likely make changes to the legislation, The Hill said.
Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had sponsored their own bipartisan housing bill, dubbed the ROAD to Housing Act, last year. They had pushed for provisions of the bill to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act in December, but it was not included, The Hill reported.
Hill wrote in a statement at the time that he looked forward to working with the Senate, “to send a bill to the president’s desk that reflects the views of both chambers.”
The Hill reported that more than 50 groups have endorsed the bill, including the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and Americans for Prosperity.
The nine lawmakers who voted against the bill were Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), and Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas).
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) applauded the bill’s passage in a statement.
“Housing costs have soared beyond the reach of millions of American families thanks to Bidenflation, while outdated and burdensome red tape has constrained our nation’s affordable housing supply and limited our ability to expand it,” Johnson said in his statement. “Today’s House passage of the Housing for the 21st Century Act is a critical step toward addressing this shortage by reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers, modernizing HUD programs, and giving banks flexibility to deploy capital to increase our housing supply.”
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