119-HRES-1299 Journalist Public Summary
119 · HRES 1299 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
The House passed H. Res. 1299 on May 20, 2026, concurring in the Senate’s amendment to H.R. 6644 with a further House amendment that packages the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — a broad, bipartisan housing bill to boost supply, cut red tape, expand manufactured/modular housing, improve access to small‑dollar mortgages and repairs, support veterans and homeless services, curb large corporate purchases of single‑family homes, and prohibit a retail central bank digital currency through 2030. It now returns to the Senate to consider the House amendment.
Public Summary — 119-HRES-1299
Headline Summary: The House passed a bipartisan housing package — the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — aimed at building more homes faster, lowering borrowing and repair hurdles, protecting renters and veterans, and curbing corporate bulk buying of houses.
What It Does: Uses a House resolution to accept the Senate’s changes to H.R. 6644 with an additional House amendment that becomes a sweeping housing bill. It promotes new housing supply (including converting empty commercial buildings), streamlines some environmental and permitting steps for smaller projects and infill, supports manufactured and modular housing, pilots FHA small‑dollar mortgages and home‑repair aid, expands planning and innovation grants for communities, updates appraisal rules, strengthens oversight of housing agencies, assists rural and veterans’ housing, tightens accountability for public housing agencies, limits large institutional investors from buying additional single‑family homes (with targeted exceptions), and bars issuance of a retail central bank digital currency through 2030.
- Who’s For It: Broad bipartisan House majority (396–13) under suspension of the rules; sponsors Rep. French Hill (R‑AR) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D‑CA). Supporters say it tackles the housing shortage by cutting red tape, enabling manufactured/modular building, unlocking small‑dollar mortgages and repairs, converting vacant properties, aiding rural and veterans’ housing, and reining in corporate home buying to give families a fairer shot at ownership.
- Key reasons cited by backers: faster approvals for modest and infill projects; more tools (pattern books, innovation grants) for localities; better access to counseling and financing; modernization of appraisals; and guardrails/oversight to improve program performance.
- Who’s Against It: A small bipartisan minority. Critics raise concerns about expanding federal roles in local zoning guidance, streamlining steps that could weaken environmental review, data/privacy issues tied to temperature‑sensor pilots, potential market impacts from limiting large institutional home purchases, inclusion of banking and CBDC provisions in a housing bill, and the overall scope/complexity of the package.
What’s Next: Because the House concurred in the Senate amendment to H.R. 6644 with an additional House amendment, the measure now returns to the Senate to consider that House amendment. If the Senate agrees, it goes to the President. Status as of May 21, 2026: passed the House on May 20, 2026 (396–13).
Discussion