Washington: The US Senate has overwhelmingly approved the bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act, a sweeping housing reform package designed to tackle rising housing costs by increasing the supply of homes, cutting regulatory hurdles, and restricting large-scale investor purchases of residential properties.
The legislation passed the Senate in an 85-5 vote, after months of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.
The measure comes ahead of the November midterm elections, with housing affordability expected to be a major issue for voters deciding control of Congress during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s current term.
The bill seeks to address the country’s housing shortage by streamlining federal permitting requirements for new construction, expanding access to manufactured homes, improving mortgage availability, and launching pilot programmes to support affordable housing planning and home improvement grants.
One of its most notable provisions would prohibit investors that own 350 or more residential properties from purchasing additional single-family homes, a move aimed at curbing institutional ownership that many lawmakers say has contributed to rising home prices.
Republican Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, described the legislation as the result of years of bipartisan work to reduce housing costs, expand supply, eliminate unnecessary regulations, protect taxpayers, and help more Americans achieve homeownership.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren praised the bill as a historic step toward addressing the nation’s housing crisis, saying it would increase housing supply, lower costs, and prevent private equity firms from buying up homes.
Representative Maxine Waters, the leading Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, welcomed the bill’s passage but stressed that further action would be needed to make housing more affordable. She urged lawmakers in both chambers to continue pursuing additional reforms.
The Senate’s action comes with broader legislative challenges, as Republican leaders continue to navigate new policy demands from President Trump that have complicated other priorities, including intelligence and election-related legislation.
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