Bipartisan momentum builds, but a Senate standoff over build-to-rent could yet derail the bill
A sweeping housing reform package that would restrict Wall Street's role in the single-family home market cleared the House on Wednesday in a near-unanimous vote of 396–13, advancing the most ambitious federal push on housing affordability in decades.
The measure — an amended version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — now heads back to the Senate for a final reconciliation.
The House version keeps the Senate's cap on institutional investors owning more than 350 single-family homes, but removes a controversial requirement from the Senate-passed bill that would have forced those investors to offload build-to-rent properties within seven years.
That concession won the support of the homebuilding industry and removed a flashpoint that threatened to derail the bill, but it drew sharp criticism from some senators who said the original language was essential to returning homes to owner-occupiers rather than permanent rental stock.
For mortgage brokers and originators, the legislation represents a meaningful attempt to address the supply-side crisis that has frustrated buyers for years.
Kimber White, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), told Mortgage Professional America that the bill is "a good first step."
"It addresses our housing supply challenges," White said.
"You can bring rates down and get better terms. But if you're not addressing the supply, you're not doing anything, because all you are going to do is artificially drive housing prices up."
A bill built from compromise
Speaker Mike Johnson used a fast-track procedural path to push the measure through, a move that bypassed a procedural hurdle but required two-thirds support — a threshold the bill cleared comfortably, with all 13 dissenting votes coming from Republicans.
The White House signaled support after last-minute revisions struck a balance between competing chamber priorities.
The legislation tackles the housing shortage through multiple mechanisms: expanded loan programs for new construction, streamlined environmental reviews, incentives for local governments to loosen zoning restrictions, and reforms to manufactured housing, including eliminating an outdated requirement that factory-built homes be constructed on a permanent chassis.
That rule, which dates to 1974, adds cost and limits where manufactured homes can be placed. Removing it is projected to cut production costs by between $5,000 and $10,000 per unit, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The bill also creates a grant program to help communities develop pre-approved housing designs, a reform advocates say has already accelerated construction timelines in cities that have piloted similar programs.
These supply-focused provisions drew bipartisan support throughout the months-long legislative process as Congress worked to assemble a package capable of clearing both chambers.
Build-to-rent removal puts the Senate test in focus
The removal of the forced-sale provision for build-to-rent homes is where the House and Senate versions diverge most sharply and where the bill's path to the president's desk becomes less certain.
Under the Senate-passed bill, large-scale investors who constructed homes specifically for rental use would have been required to sell those properties to individuals within seven years.
The House stripped that requirement entirely, a move that pleased the construction industry but infuriated some senators.
Senate Majority leader John Thune told reporters the Senate would "deal with it accordingly" once the House acted. Whether that means swift acceptance or another round of negotiations remains to be seen.
The bill needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate, and some members who supported the original version have already indicated reluctance to drop the build-to-rent sell-off requirement.
President Trump has expressed support for the housing push, writing on social media in April that the legislation "would ensure that homes are for people, not corporations."
His administration has moved in parallel, with the White House estimating the US housing shortage at 10 million homes.
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