NAAHL/CAHL Releases ROADmap for Implementing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

New guide maps all 124 federal actions required to bring the historic, bipartisan housing law into effect

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the most consequential federal housing reform package in decades, is now law. But passage was the first step. Today, the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL) and the Center for Affordable Housing Lending (the Center) released ROADmap: an Implementation Guide mapping exactly what federal agencies, Congress, and stakeholders must do next to bring the law’s provisions to life.

The guide identifies 124 distinct implementing actions required across the federal government, and finds that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the lead agency on 88 of them, or 71 percent. Roughly half of all required actions, across every agency, are due within just one year of enactment, a timeline that will test agency capacity at a moment when federal housing staff levels have been reduced.

“Passing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was a historic milestone,” said Sarah Brundage, President and CEO of NAAHL and the Center. “Implementing it is the work that will actually determine whether families feel the impact the legislation intends to make. NAAHL and our network stand ready to support implementation work that will bring this legislation to life and help more families find a home they can afford.”

“This guide is designed to be an evergreen resource as implementation occurs,” said Aaron Shroyer, Director of Policy and Advocacy at NAAHL and lead author of the guide. “This guide gives Congress, agencies, and housing stakeholders a sense of what has to happen next, and on what timeline, for this bill to deliver on its promises.”

The guide includes a full breakdown of required actions by agency and type, a closer look at HUD’s outsized share of the work, and an Implementation Matrix.