The House on Wednesday passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by a sweeping 396-13 vote, delivering one of the most lopsided bipartisan margins of the current Congress on a bill that aims to address the nation’s housing shortage through supply incentives, streamlined environmental review, and expanded tenant protections.
The legislation, H.R. 6644, advanced with explicit White House backing after months of bicameral negotiation between House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill and Ranking Member Maxine Waters. President Trump has signaled he would sign the bill. It now returns to the Senate, which previously passed its own version and must reconcile differences before sending a final package to the president’s desk.
The bill would reward communities that increase housing supply, ease environmental review requirements for new construction, rethink regulations that restrict small-dollar mortgage lending, and strengthen tenant assistance and protections. A provision aimed at limiting large institutional investors from owning more than 350 homes was a point of contention between the two chambers, though the House-passed version softened earlier restrictions.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce formally endorsed the legislation in a letter to House members on the day of the vote, calling it “a critical step toward addressing the principal cause of today’s housing unaffordability: a nationwide shortage of 4.7 million homes.” The Chamber noted that the amended bill “removes provisions that would have discouraged capital and limited flexibility for investment.”
The vote’s margin reflected rare cross-party agreement on housing as a kitchen-table priority. Speaker Mike Johnson called the legislation “transformational,” while Waters described it as “a huge step towards finally addressing the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country,” according to a House Financial Services Committee statement.
Three additional banking bills passed alongside the housing package, further signaling bipartisan momentum on financial services legislation. The American Access to Banking Act, which requires regulators to streamline de novo bank formation, passed 405-4. The Keeping Deposits Local Act, increasing limits on reciprocal deposits, passed unanimously. And the Community Bank Deposit Access Act, which changes how certain deposits are classified under brokered deposit rules, passed 393-16.
The Senate path remains uncertain. Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren issued a joint statement acknowledging “there’s still work to be done” and committing to work with the White House and the House on a version that can clear the upper chamber. A recent Bipartisan Policy Center poll found that 79 percent of voters across the political spectrum consider housing costs an extremely or very important issue — a finding that may pressure both parties to move quickly.
Whether the Senate acts before the midterm elections will test the durability of this rare consensus. For now, the 396-13 vote stands as one of the most decisive domestic policy actions in a Congress otherwise defined by narrow margins and partisan gridlock.