The Senate has passed a major housing reform bill. Here are 3 ways it could have a 'big impact'

At a time when there seems to be little common ground among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, a major housing bill approved by a wide majority of the Senate last month marked a rare showing of bipartisanship.

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The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed 89-10 but is now stalled in the House, is the third comprehensive housing reform package Congress has worked on in the past few years, and represents an attempt to unify previous proposals by the two chambers.

The White House has backed the Senate's amendments, but many members of the House, including those who worked on the original legislation, say the Senate's version overreaches or doesn't include concerns the House bill tried to address.

That complaint is also bipartisan, raised by both House Financial Services Chair French Hill, R-Ark., and ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who are heading the House's efforts.

The future of the sprawling bill remains uncertain, but housing advocates tell PBS News that many of its pieces are worth fighting for. Through a series of smaller efforts such as solidifying disaster recovery programs, funding low-income home repairs and keeping rural housing affordable, the legislation has the potential to improve the nation's housing infrastructure.

"One provision is not the silver bullet, but collectively they could have a big impact," said Andy Winkler, managing director of housing and infrastructure at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Reforming Disaster Recovery Act

When wildfires tore through Los Angeles in early 2025, they destroyed roughly the same amount of housing that is constructed in a year, said Noah Patton, director of disaster recovery at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

"For many areas, given the severe, pre-existing lack of affordable housing in these areas and the nature of where disasters tend to strike, you see significant increases in homelessness," he added.

On top of that, each community is its own market, and a disaster in one community simultaneously removes stock while increasing the need for housing, Patton said.

After a disaster hits, it can take months, if not years, for federal aid to reach people trying to rebuild.

That's because the Federal Emergency Management Agency generally spends only 18 months in a disaster area to provide short-term housing assistance, Patton said.

"After that point, the only game in town for long-term disaster recovery assistance is via HUD's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program," Patton said. That program requires 70% of the funds to be spent on assisting low- and moderate-income households. The Department of Housing and Urban Development also identifies the "most impacted and distressed areas" and requires aid to be targeted there.

"All of this sounds really great, except the program isn't permanently authorized, so it only exists when Congress approves funds for the program," Patton said.

The housing reform bill's Reforming Disaster Recovery Act would make that program permanent, as well as establish an Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency within HUD and a long-term disaster recovery fund.

Patton says the benefits to this are wide-ranging. States would be able to pre-plan for long-term recovery — for example by boosting hiring to handle increased administrative load — since they'll know how much the fund will dole out, he said.

While the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program alone is not going to address the nation's housing issues, Patton said, it's "essentially a triage program to ensure that, at the very least, we're making up the lost units and we're putting in units in places where people are going."

Whole Homes Repairs Act

The proposed Whole Homes Repairs Act is based on a successful state program in Pennsylvania that uses American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to help repair low-income housing, Winkler said.

The Senate's version, which housing advocate consortium Up For Growth CEO Mike Kingsella called "really important," would create a pilot program to provide grants and forgivable loans to eligible homeowners and landlords for projects in affordable single-family homes.

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Those include upgrades to "accessibility for individuals with disabilities and older adults," like adding ramps, grab bars and wider doorways. The funds can also be used to address health and safety issues as well as "energy and water efficiency, resilience, and weatherization," according to the bill.

"A lot of homeowners and even renters have home repairs that sometimes cost thousands of dollars outside of their ability to pay for them," Winkler said. "This is at every age, but it's particularly acute for older Americans who also spend more time at home. They may benefit from home modifications or repairs that help them stay in that home longer."

The money would first be awarded to up to 10 "implementing organizations" — including local governments, states, tribes or qualified nonprofits — per year over the course of the five-years pilot program, according to the bill.

The program does not appear in the House's bill, but Winkler said there's a standalone companion in that chamber, indicating some level of support.

Rural Housing Service Reform Act

The Rural Housing Service Reform Act (RHSRA) would make changes to a government agency not necessarily associated with housing: the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Some people don't realize that there are all of these separate housing programs that exist in the Department of Agriculture, but USDA is kind of a trusted partner in a lot of rural communities," Winkler said. "So it has a pretty big portfolio, outside of agriculture, in housing and economic development for rural areas, including various loan programs."

Changes proposed by the RHSRA include new financing to keep USDA-financed multi-family housing affordable and a higher cap on USDA-financed loans for homeowners taking on rehab or repair projects, similar to the Whole Homes Repair Act, Winkler said.

The affordability of many Rural Housing Services properties is tied to provisions that will soon expire with maturing mortgages, said Kim Johnson, senior director of policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The bill would decouple that affordability from that specific housing stock, she said, a change that her organization estimates would keep around 400,000 rural families in their homes.

"Instead, folks will have a voucher and they'll be able to remain in these properties so that they don't lose their assistance," Johnson said.