The U.S. Congress is currently working on revisions to H.R. 6644 or the “Housing for the 21st Century Act.” This bill revises federal housing programs, including expanding available financing for affordable housing and providing grants for planning and community development activities.
As it is currently written, the bill increases the statutory maximum loan limits for mortgage insurance programs administered by the Federal Housing Administration for multifamily homes and requires the use of a more specific inflation index for such loans and also increases the maximum eligible income for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (grants to states and localities to support housing for low-income households) and establishes a grant program to assist regional, state and local entities with strategies to support affordable housing.
In addition, the bill would exempt certain housing-related activities from the environmental review process, including certain construction, improvement,or rehabilitation of residential buildings; excludes veterans' disability benefits from being considered as income for purposes of determining eligibility for the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program; establishes a pilot program to provide grants to public housing agencies (PHAs) and other owners of federally assisted housing to test the efficacy of temperature sensors to support compliance with temperature requirements; eliminates the requirement that manufactured homes must be constructed with a permanent chassis; and authorizes HUD to conduct performance reviews of organizations that provide housing counseling services. The bill also expands oversight of HUD and PHAs, such as by requiring PHAs to post information about contracts on their websites.
Following House and Senate passage of comprehensive, bipartisan housing legislation, Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren released the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The bipartisan bill combines elements of the House-passed Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644) and the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act (S. 2651), which passed the Senate as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026. The bill also adds several new sections that were not included in either House or Senate housing packages.
New provisions would restrict large institutional investors from buying singlefamily homes and temporarily prohibit the Federal Reserve from establishing a digital dollar. Language authorizing appropriations for many programs and the House bill’s community bank title were removed.
The bill creates a $200 million annual competitive grant program for local governments and tribes that demonstrate measurable increases in housing supply, incentivizing reforms such as streamlined permitting, density bonuses, and zoning changes; and creates a pilot grant program to help local governments convert vacant commercial or industrial buildings into affordable housing, prioritizing economically distressed areas and Opportunity Zones, with funding from excess HOME Investment Partnerships Program grant allocations.
As to oversight and accountability, the bill requires the HUD secretary to testify annually before Congress on HUD’s activities and performance, as well as annual testimony from the heads of HUD, FHA, Ginnie Mae, USDA’s Rural Housing Service, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the VA’s Loan Guaranty Service relating to the status of federal housing programs and government-backed mortgages, to enhance oversight and accountability. A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the president to become law.