The U.S. House of Representatives has passed what could become the most significant housing legislation in decades. But even supporters say it doesn’t do enough to ease America’s housing affordability crunch.

On May 20, 2026, the House passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by a lopsided, bipartisan vote of 396 to 13. The vote took place 10 weeks after the Senate overwhelmingly approved a somewhat different version of the bill.

If the two chambers can reconcile their differences, the legislation would be one of the few substantive bills approved by Congress in recent years.

Many of the 56 provisions in the wide-ranging bill are regulatory in nature, such as streamlining environmental impact reviews and reducing the frequency of inspections for homes with tenants receiving federal rental assistance. Others seek to make it easier for homebuyers to acquire financing.

These elements and more could help move the needle on the nation’s housing morass.

But as housing policy scholars, we believe the improvements will be only marginal. That’s because the reforms do not address the main source of the nation’s housing problem: that millions of renters and homeowners lack the income necessary to cover their housing costs.

The bill does include several important reforms.

The provision that has received the most attention would limit the ability of private equity firms and other institutional investors to acquire and operate single-family homes as rental properties.

Although institutional investors account for about 2% of all single-family rentals nationally, they have a bigger presence in certain housing markets, mostly in the South. These firms will typically purchase homes in........

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