Statement from NLIHC President and CEO Renee M. Willis on the Amended “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” and the Additional Improvements Needed to Address the National Affordable Housing Shortage
May 19, 2026
Washington, D.C. - “The recent release of the amended ‘21st Century ROAD to Housing Act’ by the U.S. House of Representatives is a welcome development for the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), low-income renters, and households seeking relief from high rents and a path to homeownership.
The current U.S. Senate version of this bill included provisions on housing supply, financing, and homelessness. The amended House package contains most of the Senate provisions, including the following policy priorities for NLIHC that will help keep low-income renters and homeowners stably housed:
“Rural Housing Service Reform Act,” which would help preserve affordable rental and homeownership opportunities for low-income people and families living in rural areas, reduce administrative barriers, and encourage public-private partnerships to increase investment in the country’s rural housing supply.
“Choice in Affordable Housing Act,” which would help streamline inspections for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, helping HCV recipients use their voucher more quickly.
“Whole-Home Repairs Act,” which establishes and funds at $30 million a five-year pilot program for home repair grants to low- and moderate-income homeowners, and forgivable loans to qualifying small landlords.
“Housing Supply Expansion Act,” which would remove a HUD requirement that manufactured homes be constructed with a permanent chassis, lowering the cost of production and expanding design and location possibilities.
“Incentivizing Local Solutions to Homelessness Act,” which would allow for greater flexibility in how communities can use Emergency Solutions Grant funding to address the needs of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
“Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act,” which would help more veterans experiencing homelessness access housing opportunities through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program.
“HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Reform Act,” which would make several reforms to the program, including streamlining environmental reviews, requiring a review of the Build America, Buy America (BABA) program implementation, increasing the minimum income requirement for homeownership activities, and making community land trusts (CLTs) eligible for HOME funding.
Although the amended ‘21st Century ROAD to Housing Act’ is a positive step toward a bipartisan housing supply bill, more work remains. The amended House bill does not include the important Reforming Disaster Recovery Act (RDRA), a top priority for NLIHC and almost 550 national, state and local organizations. The RDRA contains critical reforms to ensure HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program better serves disaster survivors with the lowest incomes. This includes better targeting recovery resources to extremely low-, low-, and middle-income survivors, coordinating data sharing, research, and oversight, and encouraging communities to pursue mitigation and resiliency efforts.
I thank House Financial Services Committee Chair Representative French Hill (AR-02) and Ranking Member Representative Maxine Waters (CA-43) for their leadership and continued work to advance meaningful housing legislation. The bipartisan housing supply bills under consideration by Congress would streamline programs to ensure federal dollars reach communities more efficiently. The House should pass the amended ‘21st Century Road to Housing Act’ and work with the Senate on a final supply bill that includes purposeful affordable housing priorities, such as the RDRA, to ensure people and communities with the lowest incomes directly benefit from the final bill.”
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