The House passed landmark housing legislation this week after a clash with the Senate over certain provisions. What is next and when President Donald Trump could sign it into law remain unclear.The House passed a revised version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in a resounding 396-13 vote. The bill aims to boost housing supply and affordability through mechanisms such as deregulating zoning requirements.
But the passage came after some contentious interchamber disputes. The Senate originally passed the bill overwhelmingly in March, though House negotiators, including Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and ranking member Maxine Waters (D-CA), later added a number of amendments to the legislation.
Those amendments, the result of House priorities and feedback from outside stakeholders, faced some resistance from the Senate, specifically Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who were pushing for the House to pass the Senate’s version as-is.
A major update to the revised legislation on Tuesday amended the section that bans institutional investors, such as Blackstone, from purchasing single-family homes.
In its amended version last week, the House left the institutional investor ban in place but removed a provision that would’ve required investors in build-to-rent homes to sell those houses within seven years. In addition, the House’s amended version contained exceptions that would have allowed institutional investors to purchase more homes than they would have, all else equal, under the Senate’s version.
