Housing Legislation Update

By: Kevin Cameron, ALTA’s Head of Federal Government Affairs

Congress has reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that has been working its way through Congress over the last several months. Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC), Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chairman French Hill (R-AR), and Ranking Member Maxin Waters (D-CA) announced the deal in a joint statement. ALTA put out a statement of support for the legislation last night, urging both chambers of Congress to pass the bill and send it to President Trump’s desk.

You can read the bill text here and a the section-by-section of the legislation here.

Some highlights of the legislation are:
 Reduces regulatory red tape to spur housing production
 Bans institutional investors (350+ homes) from buying single family homes
o Includes exemptions for build-to-rent, renovate-to-rent, senior housing and other types of purpose-built housing
o No 7-year forced disposal requirement
o No tenant opportunity to purchase provision given no disposal requirement
 Removes permanent chassis requirement from manufactured housing
 Opens FHA financing for small-dollar mortgages (under $100K)
 Includes community banking provisions to support lending in rural and underserved markets
 Requires GAO and HUD to report on the law’s impact at years 2 and 10 years

As Chris said in this statement, this is a great step forward for homebuyers everywhere and will help address the nation’s housing supply and affordability issues. There is still more work to do, and the ALTA team looks forward to continuing to work with Congress and the Administration on improving housing supply and affordability in America!