By Kayla Blackwell, Alayna Calabro, Kim Johnson, Meghan Mertyris, Libby O’Neil, Noah Patton, and Renee Williams, NLIHC
“21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” Becomes Law
This summer, Congress enacted the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” (ROAD), the first major bipartisan housing bill since the 1990s. After many months of back and forth between the House of Representatives and the Senate, the two chambers eventually came together and agreed on what they wanted for the final bill, and “ROAD” became law on July 11.
“ROAD” is a broad housing package containing 59 provisions related to disaster recovery, rural housing, homelessness, manufactured housing, and housing supply. The final bill includes a few of NLIHC’s long-time priorities related to improving long-term disaster recovery, preserving rural housing, and updating housing choice voucher inspection policies.
- The “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” (RDRA; https://tr.ee/uoD00N: Section 504 of “ROAD” will reform HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. CDBG-DR provides long-term disaster recovery resources to communities so they can rebuild and prepare for future disasters. The reforms (https:// tr.ee/kVtjXS) in “ROAD” will help sorely needed long-term disaster recovery and preparedness funds reach the hundreds of thousands of disaster survivors who need them most, when they need them most.
- The “Rural Housing Service Reform Act,” Section 502 of “ROAD,” makes several changes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development (RD) housing programs. One important change is ensuring that renters living in properties financed by RD keep their rental assistance in the long term, preserving the affordability of around 400,000 rental homes in rural communities.
- The “Choice in Affordable Housing Act” introduces new inspection options for the housing choice voucher (HCV) program, allowing units inspected in the past 12 months for the purposes of an affordable housing program (like HOME or Low-Income Housing Tax Credits) to also meet requirements for an HCV, and allowing landlords who have not previously rented a unit to a household with an HCV to have an inspection done before their unit is selected by a household. These changes are intended to help households with HCVs get into units more quickly.
“ROAD” also expands HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, a concern for NLIHC because of the potential impact on tenants living in properties undergoing RAD conversions. The bill requires HUD to study the impacts of RAD conversion on tenants, including the impacts on tenants’ rights, which gives HUD more authority to enforce tenant protections and address situations where tenants’ rights are being violated. NLIHC and our partners will continue to work with HUD to protect the rights of renters as these changes are implemented.
“ROAD” includes many other provisions that may directly or indirectly help low-income renters, detailed in our new resource, ROAD Impacts on Low-Income Households (https://tr.ee/1F3Qkh). While “ROAD” is an important milestone and step forward in addressing the affordable housing crisis, it does not make the long-term, large-scale investments in programs required to meet the affordable, accessible housing needs of the millions of people with the lowest incomes struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
NLIHC will continue to push for investments in programs like public housing, housing choice vouchers, and permanent supportive housing that serve people with the most urgent needs.
HUD Funding
Every year, Congress is charged with providing new money for federal programs and services— including HUD’s housing, homelessness, and community development programs—through the annual appropriations process. While Congress is supposed to pass new funding bills before October 1, the beginning of a new federal fiscal year (FY), they rarely meet this deadline. Without spending bills enacted, Congress must pass a continuing resolution (CR) to extend funding for federal programs for a predetermined time and avoid a government shutdown.
In June, the House released (https://tr.ee/3mhysM) an FY27 spending bill for HUD that would cut funding for the department’s vital affordable housing, homelessness, and community development recourses by $5.94 billion—around 8%— from last year, for a total of $71.38 billion. The Senate has not yet released its FY27 spending bill for HUD.
With the October 1 deadline fast approaching and elections held in November, federal lawmakers passed a CR in September to extend funding for federal programs and services until December 11, ensuring a shutdown is avoided when the new federal fiscal year begins. The results of November’s elections will likely play a role in determining whether Congress finalizes their FY27 spending bills before the end of the year, or if they pass another CR into the new year to give the new Congress the opportunity to rewrite FY27 spending bills.
Legislation NLIHC is Tracking
- The “FEMA Act” (https://tr.ee/LDLLet) would restore FEMA’s status as an independent agency outside of the Department of Homeland Security and implement a host of improvements that will help allow the agency to respond faster, fairer, and with increased flexibility to the needs of all disaster survivors across the country.
- The “Green New Deal for Public Housing Act” would address the backlog of maintenance needs at Public Housing properties around the country, including making improvements in energy efficiency, resilience, and sustainability.
- The “Community Housing Act” would make major investments in affordable housing programs, including the National Housing Trust Fund, HUD’s Eviction Protection Grant Program, and rural housing programs.
- The “VITAL Act” would reform the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program to create more affordable housing accessible for people with disabilities.
Federal Rule Changes
Throughout 2026, the Trump administration has continued issuing proposals that NLIHC strongly opposes because of the expected negative impacts on people with the lowest incomes. For example:
- HUD has proposed removing protections across HUD programs (https://tr.ee/FQVAMB) that prevent people from being denied housing opportunities because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Such opportunities include access to HUD-funded shelters. HUD received thousands of comments on the proposal, as many organizations and members of the public weighed in to oppose these changes. HUD is now reviewing the comments.
- The administration has also issued a proposal that would place federal grants at risk (https://tr.ee/mAYzs8) unless the grant recipients align with the administration’s agenda on issues such as LGBTQ+ rights or promoting diversity. The proposal would inject uncertainty into many federal housing programs despite the ongoing affordable housing crisis. The scope of the proposal would also impact many areas beyond housing, such as medical research. These changes are temporarily delayed from being finalized because of the CR that became law in early September.
- The administration seeks to remove meaningful requirements (https://tr.ee/iIG1zi) regarding bank investments and presence in underserved communities, including communities of color.
- HUD is also working on the final versions of rules that will separate or displace families with mixed immigration statuses (https://tr.ee/oosOkw); would allow public housing agencies and HUD-assisted owners to impose counterproductive work requirements and time limits on residents (https://tr.ee/ UvZ9uI); and would remove regulations (https://tr.ee/lysKEc) designed to help HUD-assisted tenants who are struggling to pay rent avoid eviction.
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is implementing the final public charge rule beginning September 18, 2026. The new rule removes 2022 public charge guidance, creating an opportunity for arbitrary and discriminatory decisions based on which benefits may be considered in a public charge test for people applying for admission into the U.S. or for green cards. For additional resources on what is considered, see Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition’s Public Charge Regulation Toolkit (https://tr.ee/RFdjlI).
NLIHC will continue watching for, and voicing our opposition to, harmful administrative actions.