Congress is finally set to pass a housing bill: Here’s what it would do

Congress is on the verge of passing a bipartisan housing package after months of often tense negotiations between House and Senate Republicans, a significant achievement that lawmakers in both parties are eager to tout back home.

The bill, titled the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, would roll back some permitting regulations and limit corporations from buying up single-family homes, among other things.

It’s the first big push in decades to change regulations and address problems that have limited the nation’s housing supply and led to high costs of homeownership and renting nationwide. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have been the bipartisan duo driving the bill’s progress in the Senate, along with their House counterparts, Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

“America is in a full-blown housing crisis. Across this country, home prices are sky-high, rent is through the roof, and the median age of a first-time homebuyer is now at an all-time high,” Warren said last week as the bill hit the Senate floor. “But for too long, the federal government has been asleep at the switch, and that changes today.”

In a year where Congress has been focused on shutdowns and there has been little progress in legislating, the housing bill stands out as a way for members of both parties to declare victory.

Warren said the bill will be the biggest housing bill to pass Congress in three decades assuming it reaches President Trump’s desk.

Here’s what the bill would do

There are more than 45 different provisions in the bill, including new programs to help communities find........

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