Overview
- The House approved H.R. 6644, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, in a 390-9 vote, advancing a rare cross-party push to expand housing supply and ease costs.
- The bill streamlines building by trimming environmental reviews for small projects, directing HUD to publish model zoning frameworks, and funding preapproved design “pattern books.”
- Manufactured housing standards would be overhauled by removing the permanent chassis requirement and elevating HUD’s role in regulating factory-built homes.
- Financing provisions expand community and regional bank flexibility, including lifting banks’ public-welfare investment cap to 20% to unlock more Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment.
- Key negotiation points include the Senate’s stronger ties between federal funds and local housing growth, concerns from Senate Democrats over bank regulatory changes, and the absence of President Trump’s proposed ban on large investors buying single-family homes.