Breaking Through Gridlock: Congress Advances Commonsense Reforms to Expand Housing Supply and Address Affordability

Yesterday, Congress took a meaningful step to ease housing shortages and bring costs down for American families struggling to afford a home. 

The House of Representatives passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by an overwhelming 358-32 margin, after the Senate passed the bill 85-5 earlier this week. In an era when compromise and pragmatic policymaking can be hard to find in Washington, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is proof positive that Congress can still find ways to work together and deliver for the American people. 

The legislation does not rely on a single sweeping fix. Instead, it focuses on targeted reforms that can have an immediate impact and make housing more affordable. The bill removes regulatory hurdles, streamlines environmental reviews, and modernizes outdated requirements that slow construction. As noted by Next American Era President Cheri Bustos, “Too many people have watched the dream of owning a home slip further and further away — not because they didn't work hard enough, but because the system made it harder than it needed to be. This bill starts to change that. It reduces burdensome regulations, expands supply, protects homeownership from corporate consolidation, and does it all with no new federal spending. That's the kind of practical, results-driven governance that Next American Era was built to advance."

Regulatory Hurdles Increase Housing Costs 

Regulatory costs alone now add more than $131,000 to the price tag of a typical single-family home, more than a quarter of the average sale price. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act finally puts a dent in these accumulated costs by:

• Streamlining Environmental Review and Reforming Permitting: The bill streamlines the federal environmental review process for a wide range of housing projects, including exempting small-scale infill development and the rehabilitation of existing structures from full National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review. It also cuts red tape around environmental reviews by empowering state, local, and tribal governments to expedite their processes and increase housing development.

• Modernizing Manufactured Housing: The bill removes the outdated chassis requirement for manufactured homes, encouraging innovation and expanding naturally-occurring affordable housing. 

• Cutting Duplicative Inspections: The bill eliminates redundant federal inspection requirements that slow down housing access. It allows a single passed inspection to satisfy federal requirements across housing programs and enables new landlords to request pre-inspections to make more units available faster. 

Why It Matters

The housing crisis is, at its root, a supply crisis. The changes included in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will not solve the entire housing affordability challenge on their own – but they point to where further progress is needed, particularly in reducing permitting delays and other barriers that constrain new supply. Instead of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together to align on pragmatic improvements that will help more Americans afford homes now. 

This type of lawmaking should be a model for Congress to replicate, not just on housing, but for the range of other areas – from energy costs to childcare – where American families are in desperate need of relief from increasing costs. 

Continuing that progress will require sustained focus on the barriers that still hold supply back, especially permitting delays that contribute to slower construction and higher prices.