The House of Representatives has passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, with the ban on institutional investors left on the cutting room floor.
The lower chamber passed the Act 396-13, with all the dissenting votes coming from Republican members who backed President Trump’s call to force institutional investors to sell their build-to-rent properties after seven years. Trump said on Truth Social that the ban would ensure “homes are for people, not corporations.”
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Still, the provision continued to draw scrutiny for potential loopholes and for whether it would meaningfully improve affordability, given that institutional investors own less than 1 percent of the housing stock.
California Representative Maxine Waters (D) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) lauded the Act’s passage, saying it includes “needed housing reforms” that will improve housing affordability for millions of households.
“This revised House package of needed housing reforms preserves more than 90 percent of the Senate’s bill, while strengthening it by adding numerous, critical House-passed, Democrat-led housing and community banking provisions,” Waters said on Tuesday. “As a result, we will be providing more relief and support to millions of families and communities all across the nation.”
The National Association of Realtors praised the House for passing the Act, saying it is “one of the most significant bipartisan housing packages” in decades.
Shannon McGahn
“This bill reflects the growing bipartisan consensus that the nation needs bold action to expand housing inventory, improve affordability, and create more pathways to homeownership and rental opportunity,” Shannon McGahn, NAR executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, said in an emailed statement. “Specifically, this amended bill provides communities with new resources and best practices to modernize zoning and boost supply, streamlines federal permitting, and expands financing options for manufactured and rural housing.”
“The bill also modernizes key programs like [the Community Development Block Grant] and [the HOME Investment Partnerships Program] to strengthen local housing investment, improves credit access for homebuyers, and helps ensure veterans take full advantage of their VA home loan benefits,” she added.
The National Association of Homebuilders was particularly pleased with the removal of the regulations on build-to-rent communities, saying that the provision would have exacerbated inventory issues.
“NAHB applauds the House for overwhelmingly approving the revised 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act with strong bipartisan support. Led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill and Ranking Member Maxine Waters, the package eliminates a forced-sale provision on rental housing that would have reduced supply, raises and indexes multifamily loan limits to help spur new apartment development, and provides meaningful relief to community banks,” NAHB Chairman Bill Owens said in a written statement.
McGahn and Owens both ended their statements with a plea to the Senate, saying the bill should pass the upper chamber quickly, so President Trump can sign it into law.
Speaker Johnson said the House and Senate “remain closely aligned” on passing the Act and will do so “in very short order.” Johnson may be making a promise he cannot fulfill, as a strong contingent of Senate members still support maintaining regulations for institutional investors.
“Changing a provision from what Donald Trump has specifically asked for and the language he has specifically endorsed and that has passed the Senate 89-10 is nothing more than an attempt to kill the housing bill overall,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told The Hill.
