Senate leaders introduced bipartisan legislation with the potential to help address the nation’s housing affordability crisis. The measure would incentivize communities to rethink policies that may inhibit new home construction and small-dollar mortgages, among other things.
The ROAD to Housing Act of 2025 is being sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and incorporates legislative proposals from several members of the committee.
“Since taking over as ranking member in 2022, I pledged to make housing a top priority and put forward commonsense reforms to reverse decades of failed housing policies,” Scott said in a joint statement. “Now, as chairman, I’m proud to lead the committee in considering comprehensive legislation that will increase access to affordable housing for Americans across the country.”
“I’ve been calling on Congress to address our nation’s housing shortage for years, and I’m proud to work with Chair Scott and our entire committee to put forward legislation that will boost housing supply, reduce homelessness and expand homeownership for families,” Warren added.
Among the numerous provisions of the 315-page bill are several rewards for communities that take the initiative to build more housing supply, ease environmental review of new construction, rethink regulations to hamper additional lending for small-dollar mortgages and expand tenant assistance and protections.
“MBA applauds and supports the Senate Banking Committee’s favorable reporting of this significant package that will help make housing more affordable and available to households in both urban and rural communities across America,” Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Bob Broeksmit said in a statement. “Many of the bill’s provisions will help to boost housing supply for both owning and renting, streamline federal housing program offerings, and make small-dollar mortgage lending more available to consumers.”
The legislation also seeks to increase government accountability, requiring annual testimony on housing and community development issues by the heads of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Ginnie Mae, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
If implemented, the legislation also would:
- Enhance banks’ capacity to make investments in affordable housing by increasing the Public Welfare Investment cap maintained by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve from 15 percent to 20 percent.
- Mandate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to study and deliver a report to Congress detailing the effect of various factors of loan originator compensation on the availability of small-dollar mortgage loans and assess the barriers they pose to the availability of such mortgages.
- Require the CFPB and FHFA to assess the impact of existing regulations limiting the points and fees lenders are permitted to charge on qualified mortgage loans, which vary by loan limit, then make any necessary regulatory changes to help encourage additional lending for small-dollar mortgages.
- Require the FHA to assess impediments to FHA-insured lending for modular housing and direct the HUD secretary to modify the financing draw schedule to encourage modular housing construction.
- Permit the HUD to place greater importance on grant applicants’ location or primary service area to further support housing preservation and construction in designated opportunity zones.
- Direct HUD to develop best practice frameworks for zoning and land-use policies.
- Permanently authorize the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery and establish the Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency within HUD to administer the program.