A wide-ranging bipartisan bill designed to improve housing affordability easily passed the Senate on Thursday, despite concerns from some industry groups and senators about terms that would restrict institutional investors from the market.
The 21st Century Road to Housing Act, sponsored by GOP Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, passed 89-10. The package blends elements from previous housing bills considered by both chambers of Congress.
The bill contains a number of provisions designed to lower costs and boost housing supply. Among them are initiatives to change manufactured home requirements to lower their costs, simplify environmental review processes for small building projects, and tie certain state and local government grants and funding to housing production goals.
Congress and the White House have been seeking ways to address housing affordability as the issue becomes a mounting political and economic crisis nationwide.
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Since 2019, home prices have risen more than 50% on average, far exceeding 22% wage growth in the same period. Many aspiring homebuyers have found themselves priced out of the market, while many current homeowners are reluctant to move in a pricier, higher-rate environment.
“We can do what so many folks failed to do in this legislative body for the last few decades — not few years, but few decades — and that is pass consequential legislation that makes it easier to become a homeowner for those who are ready for that part of their journey,” Scott said in a speech before the vote.
The bill has drawn support from organizations focused on low-income housing issues, advocacy groups for cities and state housing finance authorities, and trade groups like the National Association of Realtors and the Manufactured Housing Institute.
“It’s very good that Congress is taking meaningful action,” said Dennis Shea, executive vice president and chair of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which supports the bill.
He noted that he was also encouraged to see state and local officials working to improve affordability in their communities.
“We really need to have multiple levers of policy. It’s a tough problem to solve.”
While the portions of the bill designed to encourage building and unlock new housing funding have broad support, one section of the package could prove deeply divisive.
That provision prohibits many large investors from buying single-family homes and requires others to sell off rental home holdings to individuals after seven years. It has drawn concerns that the rules could end up worsening the housing shortage, especially for rentals, by discouraging future investment in the burgeoning build-to-rent business.
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