By David Gasson
2025 was quite a year as we celebrated a $16 billion expansion of the LIHTC program and comprehensive housing reform bills passing the Senate and the House Financial Services Committee. The support for housing is overwhelmingly bipartisan and as we enter 2026.
Let’s begin with the housing reform bills. The Senate passed the ROAD to Housing Act in November with broad bipartisan support. This legislation passed the Banking Committee by a unanimous 24-0 vote. It contains reforms to CDBG, streamlines environmental requirements in NEPA, increases the Public Welfare Investment cap for banks from 15% to 20%, lifts the cap on the RAD program and so much more. There was a push to pass the ROAD Act in both chambers as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) but the House pushed back, as they had their own housing legislation they wanted to consider.
The House Financial Services Committee did just that with a two-day hearing in late December which resulted in the passage of the Housing for the 21st Century Act. Many of the proposals in the bill are similar to provisions in the Senate ROAD Act, including the increase in the Public Welfare Investment cap. One significant difference is the House inclusion of the HOME Reform Bill authored by Congressman Mike Flood (R-NE) and Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO). This legislation includes an exclusion from the Build America Buy America (BABA) mandates for developments utilizing HOME funds.
Housing Action Group (HAG) will be working to include this language in the final bill to be conferenced by the House and Senate, hopefully sometime in January or early February. This is a political and economic win for all parties involved and seeks to address some of the affordability issues confronting the housing economy.
The other housing issue Congress is on the clock to address is the THUD budget. The current continuing resolution (CR) expires on January 30th and there are no shortages of issues complicating Congress’s work on passing budgets. It is our understanding that now that both chambers have agreed on top line numbers for the remaining budgets, prospects are good for the THUD budget being included in a “minibus” or package of agency budgets Congress could pass by the January 30th deadline. House officials have volunteered that the budgets for the remaining agencies will be closer to Senate proposed numbers then the House, which is good for HUD as the House did not fund the HOME program. Based on conversations we have had with Senate and House appropriations staff we are somewhat confidant the THUD budget will be passed. Stay tuned.
2026 is a mid-term election year and with this Administrations governing style, we can likely count on continued upheaval and challenges. That said, the bipartisan support that exists for housing production coupled with the continued focus on affordability, we foresee another positive year for housing policy. Please keep up the advocacy and thank you for your support.