Senate Majority Leader John Thune is pushing revised housing legislation to the floor this week, as House leaders flag unresolved differences
The Senate is moving to force a floor vote this week on a revised version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a development that could resolve months of bicameral gridlock or deepen it, depending on whether House leaders are prepared to follow.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is planning to bring the updated legislation to the Senate floor, according to Politico, which cited two people familiar with the bill dynamics and two Senate Democratic aides granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
The revised package incorporates most of the House-passed language, including a provision restricting large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes, while also restoring Senate priorities dropped during the House amendment process.
The legislation reflects talks among Thune, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as discussions with the House and the White House.
Read more: Housing bill clears House with near-unanimous vote in rare win
Brokers see supply as the defining issue
If the bill passes and is signed into law, the near-term impact on the housing market will be uneven. The institutional investor restriction, which is the bill's most-discussed provision, is unlikely to trigger a flood of listings.
Institutional landlords own roughly 3% of the single-family home stock, even as overall investor activity remains elevated, so the supply effect of the ban would be gradual.
More consequential for brokers are the supply-side measures: the bill streamlines environmental reviews, modernizes manufactured housing rules, and updates multifamily financing tools. These changes could gradually loosen inventory in underserved markets where brokers are most active.
For the brokerage industry specifically, the VALID Act is worth watching. By requiring FHA mortgage disclosures to include veteran cost comparisons, it creates a new advisory angle for brokers working with VA-eligible buyers.
The BUILD NOW Act's block grant incentives, if effectively deployed, could also expand the pipeline of starter-home construction in markets where purchase originations have been constrained by tight listings.
Kimber White, President of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), previously told Mortgage Professional America that addressing inventory, not just corporate ownership, is the real test.
"You can bring rates down and get better terms," White said. "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."
The Senate passed its version of the legislation 89-10 in March. The House followed with a 396-13 vote in May, retaining most of the Senate's language on curbing Wall Street's role in residential markets, a top priority for President Donald Trump.
Read more: NAMB pleased with House passage of housing bill as focus turns to Senate approval
House pushes back on the Senate's revised approach
House leaders have not signed off. Dan Schneider, a spokesperson for House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill, said the committee had not received formal text from the Senate.
"If reports are accurate, this proposal still includes redlines for members of the House," Schneider said. "We urge the Senate to work with the House and not waste valuable floor time in the Senate so we can get a bicameral bill to President Trump's desk."
A White House official confirmed the administration backs the Senate's revised compromise.
The updated Senate bill would remove two community banking deregulation measures tied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, dropped due to budget scoring constraints, while restoring several Senate priorities: the BUILD NOW Act, which incentivizes communities to expand housing through the Community Development Block Grant program; the Rental Assistance Demonstration bill; the Moving to Work bill; and the VALID Act, requiring Federal Housing Administration mortgage disclosures to include cost comparison data for veterans.
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