House gives final approval to bipartisan housing bill aimed at lowering costs

The House gave final approval on Tuesday to a broad bipartisan bill aimed at lowering the cost of housing, with lawmakers in both parties eager to show progress on affordability issues ahead of this year’s midterm elections.The 358-32 vote sends the bill to Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law on Wednesday at the Capitol. The Senate passed the legislation 85-5 on Monday.The measure would reduce federal regulations, streamline environmental reviews, speed up the construction process and curb the influence of corporate landlords by limiting their ability to purchase single-family homes. It represents one of the most sweeping efforts in decades to increase the supply of housing and bring down prices, as voter frustration runs high about the cost of living.Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who helped negotiate the bill, said the median age of a first-time homebuyer was now 40 and rents had soared about 47% since the COVID-19 pandemic.“Our country must do better and today we will,” she said.Dozens of bills were combined to create the final package after months of negotiations, creating a rare moment of bipartisanship in a congressional session that has been plagued by bitter standoffs.The House financial services chairman, French Hill, an Arkansas Republican who worked with Waters and the Senate on the bill, said it was the first time in years that Congress had come together to make “measurable, accountable changes” to the nation’s housing laws.The bill would “help build more homes to meet that growing demand and keep the American dream within reach”, he said.The legislation on its way to Trump would expand financing, encourage the development of “innovative housing” like modular homes, require new renter protections and enhance programs that aim to end homelessness.It would also offer funding to local governments that build more housing, including Community Development Block Grant money to places exceeding the median rate of homebuilding. It would provide new dollars for communities to turn abandoned infrastructure into housing, and it offers a framework for communities that want to reform outdated zoning regulations, which often limit larger housing developments.ln addition, the bill would raise limits on the number of public housing units that can receive financing for renovations and codify a recovery program to help expedite funds to communities rebuilding after disaster.The legislation does not include a Senate provision that would have required investors to sell newly constructed homes within seven years.Republicans and Democrats have embraced the bill as a way to show they are addressing the nation’s affordability crisis, driven in part by rising home prices due to a shortage of affordable housing. The US housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.Sales of previously occupied US homes have been hovering close to a 4m annual pace going back to 2023 – well short of the 5.2m annual pace that has historically been the norm. Sales slowed last year to a 30-year low and have remained sluggish so far this year, declining in January and February versus a year earlier.The Economic Report of the President in April found a shortage of 10m homes, while a report this month from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University found sales of existing homes were at three-decade lows and inventories were rising due to high home-buying costs. “Cost burdens for both renters and owners continue to climb, while assistance remains profoundly underfunded,” the report said.While the median US monthly rent has been declining for nearly three years, it was still 17.2% higher in May than it was before the pandemic, according to data from Realtor.com.The legislation drew widespread support in the housing community, both from organizations representing landlords and large property owners as well as groups that advocate for tenants and low-income renters.It also brought together Republicans and Democrats, many of whom noted the unusual level of bipartisanship ahead of the vote.“In this polarized and angry Congress,” said the Democratic representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, “we are actually getting something done.”