House Clears Housing Package, But Senate Talks Loom Large

The House of Representatives delivered a rare show of unity on housing policy Monday, passing a broad bipartisan package that lawmakers hope can jumpstart stalled efforts to boost supply and tame affordability. The vote, however, may prove to be the easy part.

The chamber approved the Housing in the 21st Century Act by a 390-9 margin, pushing the measure forward under a procedural shortcut reserved for bills viewed as largely noncontroversial, Politico reported. The legislation bundles together a wide array of housing-related proposals touching everything from development rules to borrower protections and oversight of federally backed housing programs.

It aims to streamline local and rural housing programs, encourage new manufactured and affordable housing, tighten guardrails for housing providers that rely on federal dollars and expand access to credit. A late addition would also loosen certain regulations on community banks.

With House passage secured, attention shifts to the Senate, where lawmakers advanced their own bipartisan housing bill last fall. That measure, known as the ROAD to Housing Act, earned White House support and serves as the baseline for negotiations that will determine whether Congress can deliver a single bill to the president.

French Hill, an Arkansas Republican who crafted the House package alongside ranking member Maxine Waters, said leadership wanted to clear the House calendar early to create room for negotiations before the campaign season squeezes legislative time. His challenge will be persuading Senate counterparts and the administration to accept changes to a bill that already reflects a delicate balance.

Those talks may be rocky. Hill has raised concerns about the Senate bill’s reliance on new grant programs that would increase federal spending, an approach that many House Republicans oppose. While the two packages overlap on several policy goals, those spending provisions could become a flashpoint.

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren has signaled little appetite for reworking the Senate bill. She has warned that altering its framework could unravel the bipartisan support that carried it through the chamber.

Warren has also criticized the House bill’s community banking language, arguing it risks injecting bank deregulation into what should be a focused housing debate.

— Holden Walter-Warner