President Donald Trump canceled a planned Wednesday signing of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which had cleared the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32, posting on social media that the event was called off until lawmakers pass separate legislation he wants.
The bipartisan package combines nearly 50 measures aimed at boosting housing supply and lowering costs and includes limits on institutional investors buying single-family homes by barring future purchases that would push an investor's holdings above 350 houses, a ban on the federal government issuing a digital dollar, and community banking deregulation initiatives.
Other provisions are designed to speed construction and cut costs: builders can skip an environmental review for a project built between two properties that already underwent review, the bill creates a grant program to develop preapproved "pattern books" for housing designs, and it relaxes a rule requiring manufactured homes to have a permanent chassis — a change lawmakers and industry experts say could reduce construction costs by $5,000 to $10,000 and allow different designs.
One element, the Build Now Act, ties a larger share of existing federal funding to localities that build more housing by reallocating funds from places that build less, and the package also would create a pilot program to award grants to redevelop vacant units into housing.
The measure advanced after an agreement among the four lawmakers leading the effort — Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and ranking member Elizabeth Warren, and House Financial Services Chair French Hill and ranking member Maxine Waters — and after the White House announced its support; "Now it is time to move forward, get this bill across the finish line, and deliver real relief for the American people," Sen. Tim Scott said. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said, "There is so much in this bill. Each piece, directing us toward increasing the supply of housing, bringing down the cost, and making housing something that is not just a Wall Street investment, but is actually there for American families."
The measure faced some resistance: five Republican senators voted no — Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Rick Scott and Tommy Tuberville — and 32 House Republicans opposed final passage. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida was among those who warned she would jam up the House floor unless a separate voter-ID measure was taken up.
Supporters and analysts say the package focuses on supply but will not directly lower mortgage rates, which are set by market forces and the Federal Reserve; Realtor.com estimated a shortfall of more than four million housing units last year, and Jeanna Kenney, assistant professor of economics, finance and real estate at Villanova University, said, "Supply is the key problem here."
In a post on Truth Social a little over an hour before he was due at the Capitol, Trump wrote, "Today's Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT , which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Trump said he will not sign the housing bill until lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act, a measure intended to cut down on noncitizen voting and impose nationwide voter-ID laws. The House passed the SAVE America Act in February, but Republicans lack the 60 votes needed in the Senate to overcome the filibuster.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the president told him he wants to see more progress on passing the SAVE America Act before he signs the housing bill, adding, "He has a window of time before he has to sign a bill, and he's going to use a little bit more of that window of time." Under the Constitution, a bill that has passed both chambers and been presented to the president becomes law if he does not sign or veto it within 10 days, excluding Sundays, as long as lawmakers remain in session.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he had just heard the news and did not have an immediate reaction, and Rep. French Hill, who led the housing bill in the House, said Trump "picked the day, and now he's chosen to change the day. So we'll let him do that, and we'll see what he decides to do." Rep. Don Bacon said it was strange given the president had strongly endorsed the bill a month earlier, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the president was "running away from one of the very few accomplishments that could actually help the American people."