The ROAD to Housing Act Could Increase Affordable Housing Nationwide — But Key Gaps Risk Leaving Vulnerable Individuals Behind
If one thing has been consistent in Congress since Trump took office, it is the partisanship in our country. The Senate and the House have been as divided as ever. Republicans have ignored warning calls from Democrats to slow down their nominations and bills. Democrats have walked out of committee hearings in protest. Collaboration, it seems, has ground to a halt.
Bipartisan housing bills have seemed even less promising. For nearly two decades, no housing bills have passed committee with bipartisan support. In other words, the body that drafts housing bills has not once created a bill backed by both parties in nearly 20 years.
However, on July 29th, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which is responsible for drafting housing bills in the Senate, announced a historic bill. The Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025, or ROAD to Housing, supports key ingredients to increase affordable housing supply across the country.
Although the bill has not yet been passed into law, its prospects for success appear hopeful. All senators in the committee, led by conservative Tim Scott and progressive Elizabeth Warren, voted in favor of the bill. With this unanimous support, the bill is likely to receive continued support through both sides of Congress.
What the ROAD to Housing Act Would Do
The ROAD to Housing Act is composed of a package of programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. This multifocal package helps target a range of roadblocks to increasing America’s supply of affordable housing.
Within HUD, ROAD to Housing would increase incentives for private developers, cities, and states to build more housing. HUD would start giving grants for programs that build housing quickly and affordably. The bill also works to reduce the amount of “red tape” and restrictions that impede fast housing development.
HUD would also conduct several formal reviews of its own housing policy if the bill were passed. This includes a review of the United States’ zoning and land-use policies. HUD would look for areas that unnecessarily limit housing development. Zoning laws, such as those in the nation’s capital, have historically worked to preserve the visible aesthetic in local neighborhoods. However, those same laws artificially prevent developers from building more housing units, especially when they are needed.
HUD would also review the effectiveness of agencies working in coordination with HUD. If those agencies don’t meet the standards set by the bill, their funding could be revised or terminated.
Other provisions from the bill include:
- A 5-year pilot grant program for home repair. The program provides funding for homeowners and smaller-scale landlords to address home repair and health hazards for their tenants. Too many low-income residents suffer from deeply appalling housing standards. This program would provide funding to repair some of the poorly maintained units.
- An “innovation fund.” The fund will provide grants to local developers who commit to building affordable housing and improving community infrastructure.
- Speeding up housing development by increasing the use of modular, or manufactured housing. Modular homes are constructed off-site, typically in a factory, and then transported to their designated property. These homes are often faster and cheaper to build because they have components that are purchased in bulk and require less labor to produce.
- Revising homelessness programs nationwide by reducing administrative requirements. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), these revisions would enable homeless service providers to allocate a greater portion of their funding toward providing housing and services.
- Allowing local governments to spend more on shelter beds and outreach. Some cities and states have received “emergency solutions” grants, which can be used to fund a number of short-term programs, including care for rough sleepers. However, this bill allows more of the funding to be allocated to homelessness provisions. Before, homelessness spending was capped at 60 percent under the “emergency solutions” grants.
Ultimately, the bill is designed to increase America’s supply of affordable housing. With more housing comes lower housing costs. Such relief could not come sooner, at a time when rent across the country continues to soar.
Where the Bill Falls Short
However, the bill raises some concerns among housing advocates, notably the NLIHC, and does not address our country’s housing crisis sufficiently. Perhaps its most blatant failure is the lack of provisions it gives to protect tenants.
Some of those concerns include:
1) Increase to the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program without subsequent oversight.
RAD has historically helped agencies responsible for public housing improve their properties, while also providing low-income tenants with assistance in paying their rent. These provisions are critical, but HUD has never comprehensively evaluated RAD’s impact on its residents themselves. Because of this, advocates are unsure of how RAD actually protects tenant rights. Before implementing additional provisions for RAD, HUD should first analyze the program’s impact on the people it seeks to serve.
2) Provision to create 20-25 new public housing authorities (PHAs), which locally regulate public housing in communities across America.
PHAs play a critical role in ensuring affordable housing for millions of Americans. But PHAs can also impose requirements that negatively affect tenants. HUD does not uniformly regulate these requirements. Sometimes, they can include having to show proof of work or having to pay rent above 30% of a household’s adjusted income. NLIHC has been concerned that pre-existing PHAs lack the oversight from HUD to protect tenants. Adding more PHAs, the coalition fears, will prevent necessary HUD oversight even more.
3) Failure to provide any funding for extremely low-income residents.
These residents face the greatest need for housing, and a comprehensive bill is incomplete without addressing this issue.
Other issues include the bill’s failure to target minority and black housing needs, an absence of any provision for comprehensive housing first programs, and no explicit change to stop our country’s criminalization of homeless people.
Lastly, the bill does not propose uniform funding levels, nor does it secure funding for this legislation, which is typically the case for Congress’s bills. That would require changes to Congress’s spending on housing in an “appropriations” bill. This means that funding changes for these programs, if the bill were to be passed, remain uncertain.
Alys Cohen, director of federal housing advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center, summarized the bill this way: “It’s a series of measures, some of which are bold, some of which are modest, some of which will be helpful, some of which may be harmful. The hope is that overall, it’s a significant step forward.”
While the bill falls short in several key ways, it represents a positive step toward addressing America’s soaring housing costs. Its greatest roadblocks remain inaction from House Republicans or a veto from Trump. But its unanimous support is a hopeful sign that the bill could receive broad-ranging support.
And, if the bill were not amended by the House or Senate, it would be the most comprehensive housing law passed since the housing market crash in 2008. The bill is expected to move through the House’s Housing Committee sometime this fall.
The Political Path Ahead
The House and Senate can now propose amendments to the bill. Amendments could range from scaling back the bill’s provisions for affordable housing to adding new provisions to support comprehensive affordable housing programs. As we wait, we must make sure those amendments work to defend the rights of unhoused and housing-insecure Americans.
Call your Senators and Representatives to express the ways this bill succeeds and falls short. Remind them about the housing crisis we are currently facing. And tell them they need to stand for safe, adequate, and affordable housing for all Americans.