The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services overwhelmingly advanced the bipartisan Housing for the 21st Century Act, a legislative package intended to increase housing supply and improve affordability by updating federal housing programs, removing regulatory roadblocks, and expanding state and local flexibility. The package highlights changes to streamline reviews and permitting, including reforms framed as eliminating duplicative processes and modernizing federal environmental review requirements and standards that affect construction timelines and costs. It also includes updates intended to improve coordination between Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) housing programs, adjust Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily loan limits to reflect current construction costs, and improve the usability of programs such as HOME and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for local housing production. For manufactured housing, the bill would clarify HUD’s role as regulator and remove the federal requirement for a permanently installed chassis, alongside provisions described as enabling banks with strong balance sheets to do more public welfare housing using their own balance sheets.
U.S. Financial Services Committee 2025-12-17
U.S. House Committee on Financial Services advances Housing for the 21st Century Act to reduce regulatory barriers and modernize federal housing programs
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services advanced the bipartisan Housing for the 21st Century Act to boost housing supply and affordability by updating federal programs and removing regulatory barriers. Key reforms include streamlining reviews, modernizing environmental standards, and enhancing coordination between HUD and USDA. The bill also proposes adjustments to FHA loan limits and clarifies HUD's role in manufactured housing.