A comprehensive, bipartisan housing bill has cleared a significant hurdle.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs announced that the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act passed the committee on Tuesday.
The bill was sponsored by Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Georgia Democrat U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock sits on the committee and spoke at the committee’s meeting on Tuesday.
“When we center the people and not the politics, we have a good chance … at getting the public policy right,” Warnock said. “Housing is human dignity.”
The bill looks to boost the nation’s housing supply, increase access to affordable housing, and increase the efficiency of housing programs and unanimously passed the committee 24-0, with 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats voting.
Warnock’s Appraisal Modernization Act was also included in the legislative package.
“We will help combat appraisal bias, which is a real issue,” Warnock said. “We are all entitled to our own opinion, not our own facts.”
The package includes Warnock’s American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which creates a local government housing innovation fund, giving $1-billion over five years for grants to local governments to incentivize growing the housing supply.
Pro-housing zoning was also incentivized in the package, and Warnock’s VA Home Loan Awareness Act was also included, which adds a disclosure to the loan application forms to ensure veterans are aware of their benefits when buying a home.
The Whole Home Repairs Act was also included, redirecting $30-million in funding to help homeowners and small landlords repair and weatherize their properties.
“Our housing system is broken,” Warnock said. “Generational wealth is trending in the wrong direction, and too many young Americans find home ownership out of reach.”
The bill is massive, including 40 different sections.
Some of the key elements of the bill includes:
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Codifies tenant protections
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Directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop best practice frameworks for zoning and land-use policies
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Increases the cap for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve from 15% to 20%, enhancing banks’ capacity to invest in affordable housing
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Incentivizes housing development
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Cuts red rape around environmental reviews, empowering state and local governments to streamline reviews to increase development
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Streamlines construction process to build more homes
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Revitalizes vacant and abandoned buildings into attainable housing
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Enhances affordability by instructing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to study multifamily loan limits and adjust those limits to match housing costs
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Provides grants for housing communities
Warnock also filed amendments to the bill that would have capped how much renters pay, help cover down payment costs, and keep private equity from buying up homes. Those amendments did not make it into the final legislation.
“I still believe that we need bold solutions to meet the scale of this crisis,” Warnock said.
The package now goes to the Senate floor for a vote.
