Washington– The Senate passed a wide-ranging bill Thursday to make U.S. housing more accessible and affordable, a rare bipartisan effort in Congress to address a growing national problem.
The bill, approved by an 89-10 vote, would reduce regulations and streamline corporate investors and expand how housing dollars are used to build affordable homes and rentals. It will now return to the House of Representatives, which passed a similar bill earlier this year.
“We have a housing shortage across America,” said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who worked with Republicans to gain overwhelming bipartisan support for the legislation. “We need more housing of every type. More housing for first-time homebuyers, more housing for renters, more housing for seniors, more housing for people with disabilities, more rural housing, more urban housing, more, more, more.”
She said the legislation “will help bring prices down.”
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott led the effort with Warren. The Senate could “do what too many people have failed to do in this Legislature over the last few decades, which is pass consequential legislation that makes it easier to become a homeowner,” he said before the vote.
Despite the overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Senate, it is unclear whether the House will approve the legislation again — or whether President Donald Trump will sign it.
Trump strongly supported the bill during bipartisan negotiations, but he also slowed its momentum by announcing last weekend that he would not sign any new measures unless Congress passed legislation that would. Requiring voters to show proof of citizenship And ending most mail-in ballots. The Senate is expected to begin considering this bill next week, but it is unlikely to pass because all Democrats oppose it.
At the same time, House leaders have indicated they are unlikely to accept the Senate’s version of the housing legislation, and have suggested they launch a formal conference process to negotiate a final agreement between the two chambers — a process that could take months.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said before the bill passed Thursday that conference negotiations are a possibility, “but obviously the quickest way to do that is to get the Senate bill up and pass it.”
If the White House wants that to happen, he said, “maybe they should make that argument to House leadership.”
The bill would give local governments more authority over housing issues, allow banks to invest more in affordable housing and lift restrictions on the number of units in a public housing development that can receive private financing through Section 8 financing that helps rehabilitate properties.
“There are several provisions in this bill that stop treating the United States like a single housing market and start giving local leaders the tools they need to solve their unique regional puzzle,” said Peter Carroll of Quality, which tracks housing data.
The bill aims to make building homes easier by simplifying some regulations that require environmental reviews and inspections. It also eliminates the maximum grant for emergency shelter beds and street homeless outreach.
Many affordable housing developers also adopt it Manufactured and modular homes That can be moved to areas in need of housing, the legislation also removes the requirement that they be built on a permanent structure, making them easier to build and design.
Housing advocacy and policy groups say they want the bill to go further by investing money in building more housing and helping renters.
“This legislation is the product of senators and House members wanting to come up with something that can pass with both Democratic and Republican votes, which means it is inherently less ambitious,” said Yona Freimark, a researcher at the Urban Institute.
One of the most controversial provisions in the bill would prevent institutional investors from buying single-family homes — a top priority for Trump.
The draft law defines these investors as anyone who directly or indirectly owns 350 or more single-family homes. Investors of any size would not be required to sell single-family homes purchased before the date the bill becomes law.
They will still be allowed to buy or build single-family homes if they rent them out, but they will be required to sell them to an individual homebuyer after seven years and offer “price concessions” to that buyer and give renters a 30-day “first look” period when it comes time to sell the home.
The US housing market is experiencing a recession dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to rise from their pandemic-era lows.
Previously occupied U.S. home sales have been approaching an annual pace of 4 million now going back to 2023 — well below the 5.2 million annual pace that has been the historical norm. They slowed down last year to Lowest level in 30 years and It has remained slow so far this year, and has declined January and February Compared to the previous year.
The sharp rise in housing prices, especially in the early years of this decade, and the chronic housing shortage exacerbated nationally by years of below-average housing construction, drove many aspiring homeowners out of the market.
Meanwhile, while the median monthly rent in the U.S. has been declining for more than two years, it was still 15.2% higher in January than it was at the beginning of 2020, according to data from Realtor.com.
These trends have escalated pressure on lawmakers this year, with the November midterm elections approaching, to show they are working on ways to make the costs of homeownership and renting more affordable.
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Cramon reported from Atlanta and Vega from Los Angeles.