House Passes Bipartisan Housing Legislation
The bipartisan Housing for the 21st Century Act includes key provisions to expand housing supply, affordability.
Today, the House of Representatives passed the Housing for the 21st Century Act by a vote of 390-9. Passage of the Housing for the 21st Century Act is an important step towards enacting bipartisan legislation that will help expand housing supply and increase affordable options for families.
The bill, which is sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Chairman Mike Flood (R-NE) and Ranking Member Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), was the product of bipartisan negotiations and passed out of the Committee in December with a nearly unanimous vote. The version of the legislation being considered on the floor also contains several community banking provisions that passed the House Financial Services Committee with bipartisan support.
“Today’s vote was a critical step toward enacting bipartisan legislation that can help expand investment and create the affordable housing supply that American families need,” said Sarah Brundage, NAAHL President & CEO. “We applaud members of Congress for coming together around this critical issue, and we look forward to working with both the House and Senate to see affordable housing legislation signed into law.”
The Housing for the 21st Century Act contains dozens of provisions aimed at increasing investment in affordable housing, modernizing federal housing programs, cutting red tape, and increasing flexibility for local communities, including:
An increase in banks’ public welfare investment (PWI) cap from 15 to 20 percent, allowing for additional private investment to support affordable housing and community development;
Updates to the HOME Investment Partnerships program to expand eligibility and reduce local administrative burden;
Modernizing CDBG to better support housing construction;
Increasing FHA’s multifamily loan limits to expand affordable financing options;
Support and guidance for communities that want to reduce barriers to housing construction; and
Streamlining of environmental requirements.
Increasing the PWI cap is a key NAAHL priority as it would increase investments into affordable housing and help unlock the full potential of the expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
In advance of the Housing for the 21st Century Act’s passage, NAAHL wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and relevant Committee leaders, and signed onto letters led by the National Housing Conference and National Multifamily Housing Council urging all House members to support the legislation.
Attention now turns to the Senate, which has its own bipartisan housing legislation, the ROAD to Housing Act, that will likely come to the Senate floor in the near future and also includes an increase in the PWI cap.
NAAHL continues to urge the House and Senate to enact bipartisan housing legislation to expand affordable housing options across the country.