The House moved to codify its changes in the bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act on Wednesday, pushing the major housing reform package closer to the finish line.
The House voted 396-13 to advance the multi-part bill with a series of amendments it added over the last few weeks. The adjustments tweak some additions the Senate inserted into the bill, setting up a potential for the two chambers to hammer out remaining differences. The 13 votes in opposition were all from Republicans.
The next step for the bill is for the Senate to concur with the House’s amendments. Then the bill could then head to President Donald Trump‘s desk.
House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, said “hundreds” of members and stakeholders have reached out with concerns on the Senate version of the bill. The House amendments were made to ensure the bill does not “unintentionally” lower housing affordability, he said.
“This has been years of work in the making, and months of intensive work in this 119th congress to find a path that improves accessibility and affordability for the American people that can be a bicameral, bipartisan housing measure,” Hill said.
“This amendment today, that amends the good work of the Senate, accomplishes that,” Hill said.
The House passed its first version of the bill in February. The Senate passed its own draft in March, but its version was more expansive and included an investor ban among many other provisions. The chambers must come to agreement before the bill can advance to the White House.
House members objected to several Senate changes. Some language in the investor ban worried members in the House. Many real estate groups and industry names publicly said it could stifle housing development.
A jab at the Senate
Discussing the bill Tuesday night, House leaders emphasized how much bipartisan effort it took find the compromise. Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance Chair Rep. Mike Flood, R-Nebraska and Ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, both said their sides didn’t get all they wanted in the bargaining.
But they each also chastised the Senate for its changes and amendments to the House version of the bill. Since the House revealed its updated version of the bill, some in the Senate have tried to pressure them to advance its changes.
Waters said the Senate’s wording was “unconstitutional” and could lead thousands of evictions. She said the Senate declined a request for a conference to resolve the differences in the bill.
Flood, meanwhile, posted to X that the Senate version of the bill “caters to the worst impulses of Elizabeth Warren.”
Hill, its original sponsor, emphasized how many people in both chambers voted in favor of their respective bills. That, he said, should motivate both chambers of Congress not to dig in their heels.
President Donald Trump urged the House to pass the Senate’s version, but has urged the Congress to advance the bill.
Industry Protections
The vote came as a number of the industry organizations that publicly opposed the Senate’s wording of the bill came out in support of the House’s adjustments. That includes the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Homebuilders.
The House version of the bill has more explicit carve-outs for how the investor ban will work. For instance, exceptions for nonprofits, community land trusts, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developers, so those groups aren’t penalized.
The negotiations and changes to the bill came right to the last minute, Waters said. Changes include more time for a housing innovation fund, stronger prevailing wage negotiations, and also adding an eviction helpline for HUD. HUD later said it opposed the measure as redundant.
“Our housing bill is the most comprehensive housing reform bill in a generation and is a huge step toward finally addressing the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in our country,” Waters said.
Shortly before the vote, Warren and Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, defended their bill in an X post.
“We worked closely with the White House and our Colleagues in both chambers on a bill that puts families first and addresses the housing crisis,” the Senate Banking Committee said in the statement. “There’s still work to be done and we are committed to continue to work with the White House and our colleagues in the House on a housing bill that can pass the Senate and get to the President’s desk.”
