Housing bill hitting roadblocks

The country's first major housing bill in thirty years took another precarious step forward as the House passed its version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, sending it back to the Senate where issues remain.

"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," said Sens. Tim Scott R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

"There's still work to be done, and we are committed to continuing 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."

Sen. Scott is the Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Warren is the ranking Democrat.

The bill is stuck between the two houses over provisions that regulate institutional investors and community banks.

Housing and many muni advocates are hoping the differences can be solved as the bill would lift the cap on public welfare investments to 20% from 15%.

The cap limits how much banks can invest in community development projects, which includes affordable housing.

A higher cap is expected to pull more private investment into the affordable housing sector which relies on support from private activity bonds.

The 15% cap has been in place since 2006. When Congress raised the cap to 15% from 10%, national bank PWIs soared to $27.9 billion in 2024 from $3.1 billion in 2005.

"Lifting the public welfare investment cap will unlock billions of dollars in new private investment in the housing credit, and additional changes in the updated House legislation will further strengthen our ability to finance more affordable housing to address our nation's immense need," said Emily Cadik, CEO of the said Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition.

Developing affordable housing typically includes Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in the capital stack.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act loosened LIHTC regulations, which is also expected to expand the use of PABs.

Disagreements over fine print regulations in the ROAD bill are centered on capping the amount of time some institutional investors can buy and hold single family homes that are built specifically to rent.

Who owns "build to rent," also known as BTRs, is a politically dicey issue.

The approved House version of the bill does not include a cap on how long some institutional investors can hold onto rental homes.

The Senate version requires the institutions to sell the properties within seven years or pay a penalty. Both chambers define institutional investors as those holding 350 or more homes.

Earlier this month, President Trump signaled support for the Senate version but yesterday backed the House version.

According to a statement received by The Hill, "the Administration strongly supports passage of this bill and urges the Senate to take up and pass this legislation. The Administration requests both chambers resolve any remaining differences expeditiously."