House Passes Bill to Create More Affordable Housing In Priority for Trump

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a major housing bill aimed at expanding the supply of affordable homes, setting up a new round of negotiations with the Senate as lawmakers race to deliver relief on one of the biggest cost-of-living concerns facing American families.

The House approved the bipartisan Housing for the 21st Century Act, a package designed to increase housing supply and address the affordability crisis that has put homeownership further out of reach for millions of Americans.

The vote now sets the stage for a fight over the final version of the legislation.

The Senate previously passed its own bipartisan housing language in October as part of a broader package, but lawmakers later removed it from the final bill. Now, senators are considering a stand-alone measure known as the ROAD to Housing Act.

For the legislation to become law, the House and Senate must agree on final language that can also win support from President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Mike Johnson framed the bill as a Republican-led effort to confront rising housing costs and help working families.

“Republicans are taking the lead on addressing increased housing costs and lack of quality supply that impact nearly every American family. House Republicans have been working hard on a strong bipartisan package to lower the cost of housing for working families and put more American families into homes. We are grateful for the President’s support, and the House and Senate remained closely aligned on getting this legislation to the President’s desk in short order,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X.

The legislation comes as housing affordability remains one of the most pressing economic issues in the country.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late January found that more than 62% of adults are “very” concerned about housing costs. That places housing just behind the cost of health care at 71% and the price of food and consumer goods at 66%.

But despite broad agreement that Congress should act, the House version of the bill includes changes that could complicate its path through the Senate.

Last week, House lawmakers released updated legislative text that would weaken the Senate bill’s restrictions on institutional investors owning single-family homes, even though President Trump had endorsed the Senate language.

If the House-approved changes remain in the bill, the Senate will have to decide whether to accept the revised measure or push back.

That has alarmed Senate Republicans, who worry that last-minute changes could endanger what many members see as the most significant housing legislation in decades and a major accomplishment to take to voters before the fall campaign.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said there is “an enormous amount of frustration” among Senate Republicans and “astonishment” that the House waited weeks before acting on “a bill, which could lower housing costs in the face of an approaching election, where the cost of living is the biggest issue.”

Kennedy said a small group of House Republicans has “raised hell” over the legislation but did little for weeks to actually move the bill forward, delaying a top Republican priority.

Senate Republicans are now concerned that even modest House changes could give Senate Democrats an excuse to walk away from the bill. The Senate version originally passed the upper chamber by an overwhelming 89-10 vote, giving Republicans a rare bipartisan policy victory on a central economic issue.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, accused House Republicans of trying to undermine the legislation by weakening limits on institutional investors.

Warren warned that changing the investor provision “kills the bill.”

“It is an attempt to kill the bill. Changing a provision from what Donald Trump has specifically asked for and the language he has specifically endorsed and that has passed the Senate 89-10 is nothing more than an attempt to kill the housing bill overall,” she said.

The dispute comes after weeks of tension between House and Senate Republican leaders over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. That fight was triggered by Senate Democrats’ refusal to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without attaching reforms, which helped drive the shutdown.

Now, just two weeks after GOP leaders resolved their DHS funding dispute, Republicans are facing another internal disagreement over housing affordability.

In March, Senate Republican leaders celebrated passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act as a major economic win.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the bill would “unleash private-sector investment in more affordable homes” by reducing housing costs and increasing supply.

During a lunch meeting last week, Republican senators pressed Speaker Johnson over the delay in moving the Senate bill, according to lawmakers who attended.

“It feels like it’s at a stalemate right now. We just don’t want a stalemate on it,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who noted that the Senate bill was largely based on legislation the House passed in February, the Housing for the 21st Century Act.

For Republicans, the political stakes are clear. Housing costs are crushing working families, younger Americans are struggling to buy homes, and voters are demanding action on affordability.

The question now is whether House and Senate Republicans can resolve their differences quickly enough to send President Trump a bill that expands housing supply, encourages private-sector investment, and gives families a better shot at the American Dream.