Press Release
Posted:
Washington, D.C. – Today, the historic, bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) became law. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) voted “yes” to pass this landmark bill that will help increase the supply of affordable housing, streamline the process of building more homes, and modernize outdated programs to help create more pathways to homeownership and bring much-needed relief to renters. The bill officially became law at midnight Friday night despite the refusal of President Trump to sign the bipartisan bill.
“This is a huge first step in tackling our housing crisis in California,” said Thompson. “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will help us build more housing, lower mortgage and rental costs, and expand home ownership. I was proud to support this historic, bipartisan legislation and I will continue to work to ensure this is rolled out quickly so our communities can get the support they need.”
BACKGROUND
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is the result of extensive negotiations across the aisle and is the most significant housing package in a generation. H.R. 6644 includes dozens of bipartisan provisions to build new housing, lower mortgage and rental costs, expand homeownership, modernize federal housing programs, prioritize homebuyers and renters over corporate landlords, and support community bankers that finance affordable housing development and mortgages.
Specifically, the bill does the following:
Housing Supply and Development
- Encourages office-to-housing and commercial-to-residential conversions.
- Creates grant programs to help local governments build more housing.
- Streamlines environmental and permitting reviews for certain housing projects.
- Allows certain federal grants to support affordable housing
construction directly - Continues federal rental assistance for residents of certain rural affordable housing properties, helping preserve affordability and housing stability in rural communities.
- Helps low- and moderate-income communities recover from major disasters.
Manufactured and Modular Housing
- Encourages more factory-built housing
production. - Directs the federal Housing and Urban Development agency to review barriers to modular housing
financing and construction. - Increases federal loan limits for manufactured housing.
- Provides grants to manufactured housing communities, like mobile home parks, to preserve affordability, address infrastructure needs, and expand homeownership opportunities.
Homeownership and Mortgage Access
- Creates a federal pilot program for small-dollar mortgages under $100,000 to help lower-income buyers access financing.
- Expands support for community banks, credit unions, CDFIs, and rural financial institutions that provide mortgage lending and affordable housing financing.
- Allows banks to put more money into affordable housing
construction and preservation projects before hitting their federal investment limit.
Renter and Tenant Protections
- Restricts large corporations that own more than 350 single-family homes from purchasing additional single-family homes, while still allowing some build-to-rent activity.
- Creates a national renter resource center, including a complaint hotline and public website, for disputes involving large institutional landlords.