What Is the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act? How New Bipartisan Law Impacts Affordable Housing
At a Glance
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
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Historic Legislation: Passed into law on July 11, 2026, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act represents the largest bipartisan federal housing package passed in decades
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A Shift to Supply-Side Solutions: Unlike traditional federal housing bills that focus strictly on subsidizing demand, this legislation targets housing supply—increasing overall home production to help lower costs
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A 5-year pilot program for the Whole-Home Repairs Act to offer grants and forgivable loans for critical home safety fixes
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The reauthorization and strengthening of the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program
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Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) bonus incentive funding for communities accelerating local housing growth
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Streamlined National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews to speed up infill development, small-scale construction, and home repairs
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What You Can Do: Send a thank-you note to the congressional leaders who helped pass this critical legislation for local families.
What Is the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act?
Habitat Charlotte Region is celebrating the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act becoming law on July 11, 2026, and ask that you join us in sending a thank you note to our congressional leaders who supported the Act.
This historic legislation is a first-step in addressing America’s housing crisis.
Despite collaboration between the House and Senate, the legislation moved forward without presidential approval, making it the largest bipartisan housing package passed in decades. For organizations committed to building affordable homes, the bill represents more than a policy victory because it creates opportunities to partner with more families and help them achieve their dream of homeownership.
Collectively, Habitat affiliates from across the nation have been working diligently to get to this Act to the finish line. The bill, a comprehensive package, began as two separate bills with the Senate’s Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act (S. 2651), and on the House side, the Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644).
More than half of their provisions were identical.
Through the leadership of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the two merged into a single bill (“21st Century Road to Housing Act, 2026”).
How Does the ROAD to Housing Act Address the Housing Supply Crisis?
Housing legislation itself is uncommon in Washington, and when it does pass, it almost always targets demand, subsidizing people so they can afford to enter the housing market, or subsidizing developers to build for them.
The 21st Century Road to Housing Act takes a different approach and targets supply instead.
By focusing on supply, resources are directed toward increasing production at a variety of price points, ensuring that supply broadly exists in the first place because price is what ultimately controls both demand and supply.
Key Measures that Habitat Supported
- A five-year pilot under the Whole-Home Repairs Act that offers grants and forgivable loans to low-income homeowners, so they can address critical safety hazards before these issues force them from their home.
- The reauthorization and strengthening of the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program.
- Offering bonus Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) incentive funding for communities that accelerate housing growth, and streamlining the NEPA environmental review process to shorten timelines for home repairs, infill development, and small-scale construction.
Homeownership as the "American Dream"
How the New Housing Law Protects Opportunities for Future Homeowners
The meaning of success is never quite the same from one person to the next, but for generations, owning a home has stood in as the clearest proof that the American Dream was within reach. To hold a key to a front door was to hold wealth, stability, freedom, and security. And yet in today’s housing market, that dream has grown distant for so many.
Families are caught renting far longer than they hoped.
Millions of renters spend over 50% of their income on housing, watching mortgage rates increase more than what a paycheck can bear, or losing housing altogether until owning a home stops feeling like a dream deferred and starts feeling like a dream that was never truly on the table.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act does not hand anyone a home. What it does is it protects the possibility in the future for a home, keeping the door open for the thousands of families still walking toward it. Laura Belcher, in her 12-years as Habitat Charlotte Region President and CEO, agrees.
Every home we build represents a family that gets to stop worrying about where they will sleep and start thinking about where their children will go to school, what future they will build. Homeownership is the primary tool for generational wealth accumulation and social mobility in our country.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act makes a shift in national housing policy, allowing the dream of homeownership to remain attainable for more Americans.
–Laura Belcher, Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region President & CEO
For Habitat, every new housing unit represents a family finding stability, a place where children fall asleep knowing they are safe, where parents can breathe a little easier after a long day of work, and where families begin to imagine a future that feels tangible.
Thank Your Lawmakers for Supporting Federal Housing Reform
Real change in national housing policy doesn’t happen by accident; it takes bold bipartisan leadership. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act delivers meaningful supply-side solutions that directly help organizations like ours build more affordable homes.
Please join us in thanking our senators and congressional representatives for standing up for local families and pushing this critical legislation across the finish line, by clicking the button below.
Works Cited
Waters, Emma, and Rebecca Orbach. “What’s in the 21st Century Road to Housing Act?” Bipartisan Policy Center, March 10, 2026. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/whats-in-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act/
“21st Century Road to Housing Act.” National Low Income Housing Coalition, April 2026. https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/21ST_CENTURY_ROAD_TO_HOUSING_ACT_V2.pdf
FAQs
What is the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act?
Passed into law on July 11, 2026, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a historic piece of bipartisan legislation that addresses America’s affordable housing shortage by expanding total housing supply.
How is this legislation different from previous federal housing bills?
Unlike traditional housing legislation that focuses strictly on demand-side subsidies, this Act focuses directly on supply-side solutions—increasing production across a wide range of price points to help lower costs overall.
What key programs and provisions are included in the bill?
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Whole-Home Repairs: A 5-year pilot program providing grants and forgivable loans for critical safety repairs.
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HOME Reauthorization: The reauthorization and strengthening of the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program
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CDBG Bonus Funding: Incentives for communities that actively accelerate local housing development.
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Streamlined NEPA Reviews: Reduced administrative delays for infill development, small-scale construction, and home repairs.
How does the ROAD to Housing Act help Habitat for Humanity?
By reducing regulatory hurdles and expanding lower-cost inventory and repair resources, the bill helps local Habitat affiliates, including Habitat Charlotte Region, build more homes, partner with more families, and keep homeownership within reach.
How can I support this housing effort?
You can show your support by taking a moment to send a thank-you note to the senators and congressional representatives whose bipartisan efforts helped pass this critical legislation.