Expand Housing Opportunities
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a new bipartisan federal law that is designed to expand housing opportunities for Americans across the country. Here is a summary of the major goals and provisions.
Building more homes to expand housing opportunities
Certain approval processes will be streamlined to help speed up housing construction. The law also encourages the use of pre-approved home designs to move projects through local permitting more quickly and makes it easier to develop projects on vacant land or convert existing buildings into housing.
Better access to mortgages
The law includes provisions to expand access to small-dollar mortgages, which are home loans of $100,000 or less. These loans can be particularly important in lower-cost housing markets but are often difficult to obtain. The law also includes measures to support financing for manufactured and modular homes, which are typically less expensive than traditional site-built houses and may offer a more accessible path to homeownership.
Help for renters
The law aims to preserve affordable rental housing and streamline processes for families using housing vouchers. This includes reducing inspection delays to help renters find and move into homes more quickly.
Housing support for veterans
The law includes provisions to ensure veterans are informed about their VA home loan benefits, which may offer competitive terms compared to other mortgage options. It also includes measures that provide housing assistance to veterans experiencing homelessness.
Restrictions on large corporate investors
Restrictions will be placed on certain large institutional investors purchasing single-family homes. The goal is to help preserve homeownership opportunities for individual families and buyers, rather than allowing large corporations to compete for available homes.
Updates to existing federal housing programs
Several HUD programs that support affordable housing development will be updated. These changes seek to improve how federal dollars are used, support repairs to aging homes, and give communities more flexibility in planning and funding housing.
Strengthening local banks
Certain banking regulations will be eased to allow community and rural banks to increase lending to support local housing and development projects.
