Congress sends the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to Trump's desk in a sweeping 358-32 vote, marking the first major housing overhaul in decades
The US House voted 358-32 on Tuesday to pass the 21st Century Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act, sending President Donald Trump what lawmakers are calling the most consequential federal housing legislation in more than three decades.
Trump was scheduled to sign the bill at the Capitol on Wednesday. However, he posted on Truth Social that he was canceling the signing until the Save America Act, a voter ID bill, was passed. The Senate cleared it 85-5 the night before.
Even if Trump doesn't sign the bill, as long as he doesn't veto it, and as long as Congress stays in session for the next 10 days (excluding Sundays), the bill would automatically become law without the president's signature.
The bipartisan measure — brokered by Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ranking Member Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), and Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — ended months of bicameral negotiations with a deal struck last week, as the Senate and House sealed their agreement on the landmark affordability bill.
What the bill means for buyers and the mortgage market
For the mortgage industry, the legislation arrives at a defining moment. First-time buyers accounted for just 21% of all home purchases in 2025 — the lowest share since the National Association of Realtors began tracking the data in 1981. The bill targets two entrenched obstacles: constrained housing supply and corporate competition for entry-level homes.
Large institutional investors controlling 350 or more single-family properties would be barred from acquiring additional homes once restrictions take effect 180 days after enactment.
The legislation also strips an outdated manufactured housing chassis requirement that construction experts say has driven up costs, and launches a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) small-dollar mortgage pilot designed to expand access for lower-income borrowers.
For many buyers, the obstacle is not the loan, it is the closing table. Miki Adams, president of CBC Mortgage Agency (CBCMA), a nationally chartered housing finance agency and source of down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers based in Cedar City, Utah, said the bill addresses that gap directly.
"For many hardworking families, the biggest barrier to homeownership is not qualifying for a mortgage, but assembling the cash needed to close," Adams said.
"The ROAD to Housing Act recognizes that down payment and closing cost assistance are the bridge between a loan approval and a set of keys."
Adams pointed to the long-term case for the bill's assistance provisions. "Down payment assistance has a proven track record of helping responsible borrowers become successful homeowners while strengthening neighborhoods and local economies," she said.
Industry response and what brokers should watch
The mortgage brokerage community has followed the bill's progress closely. Valerie Saunders, chief executive strategist at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), told Mortgage Professional America she was encouraged by the result.
"No bill is perfect, but we have a big push for affordability, so anything that is going to help modernize the process, make it easier or less cumbersome for people to get into homes and create greater access to credit, we're in favor of," Saunders said.
The final text retains the investor cap from House-passed language but drops the Senate's original provision requiring build-to-rent investors to offload properties to individual buyers within seven years, a concession that won homebuilder support but drew sharp criticism from some senators.
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