WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday passed a bill aimed at boosting housing supply and lowering prices, marking rare bipartisan progress on a major issue.
The 21st Century Roads to Housing Act, authored by Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., won 89 votes. Ten senators voted against it.
The 303-page legislation would create a series of grants and pilot programs for housing construction, revise federal definitions to encourage more housing units and prevent Wall Street from buying tons of single-family homes.
Such a large, bipartisan vote is highly unusual in Congress, and the bill aims to tackle a key affordability issue for voters ahead of the midterm elections. But it’s uncertain whether it can pass the House, and President Donald Trump has indicated he’s not interested in the package as he passed legislation on a separate ballot.
The housing bill seeks to cut inspection delays for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by creating other ways to meet the requirements, while also directing HUD and the Department of Agriculture to jointly coordinate environmental reviews for certain housing projects to increase construction in rural areas.
A key section, titled Homes Are for People, Not Corporations, would “prohibit large institutional investors from buying certain single-family homes” as a way to “promote homeownership opportunities for American families, not corporations,” according to the official summary. In his State of the Union address this year, Trump called on Congress to pass legislation that would prohibit large Wall Street firms from buying thousands of single-family homes.
The legislation gives both parties a chance to win.
“Cutting regulatory red tape, lowering costs and expanding housing supply without any new spending,” Scott said, is about fulfilling Trump’s affordability agenda by expanding homeownership.
Warren cast the bill as an effort to “increase housing supply and reduce costs” by taking on investors who buy homes and raise prices for individuals and families.
“This means, for the first time, we’re moving housing prices in a positive direction and beating private equity out of the system — making a public statement that homes are for the families who live there, but Wall Street investors haven’t found another way to buck,” Warren told NBC News.
The bill still needs approval from the Republican-controlled House, and it’s unclear whether the Senate-approved version will pass and head to Trump’s desk to become law.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Republican leaders and committee chairmen at their annual retreat earlier this week that Trump wants the Save America Act to be a top priority, sidestepping the GOP fight over the housing bill.
Trump privately emphasized the importance of the Save America Act, and Johnson told members that the president “doesn’t give a (bleep) about housing,” according to lawmakers present.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle denied the exchange had taken place, saying it was “not accurate at all” and that Trump was “laser-focused on making housing more affordable.”
Trump “will be signing new executive orders on housing in the coming days,” he said.
The conversation between Johnson and Trump was first reported by Punchbowl News, with Republicans at odds over how to pass the Save America Act, voter ID and a proof-of-citizenship-to-vote bill, which Trump has labeled his “No. 1 priority.”
Trump has threatened not to sign any other legislation until Congress passes the Save America Act, although the White House has partially backed off on a potential bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Asked about Trump’s private comments on the Senate package, Sen. Rep. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., called it “once-in-a-generation housing legislation.”
“If I told you that Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren went to a bar, it would sound like the start of a bad joke,” he said. “But we got it through our committee. There’s overwhelming support in the Senate. We’re going to get this across the finish line.”
The measure faced some industry backlash because of a provision requiring major investors who build or own at least 350 single-family homes to sell after seven years.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the package has many good policies but slammed the seven-year provision as “a very weird thing” to apply more broadly than hedge funds.
“There’s literally no reason for this,” Schatz said on the floor. “Anyone who wants to build a home and then rent it out is going to be forced to sell after seven years. … A lot of these people are not in a position to sell after seven years. They don’t get their money back.”
“It’s positively Soviet,” he said.
