The Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan housing bill on Monday, voting 85-5 to reduce federal regulations, expand local control, and block private equity from buying single-family homes. The measure now heads to the House, where leaders are expected to act lat
WASHINGTON — For lawmakers trying to prove they can still deliver in an election year, Monday’s vote landed with unusual force: the Senate passed a bipartisan housing bill aimed at expanding supply and lowering prices, sending it to the House with an 85-5 margin.
The vote caps weeks of intense bargaining that stretched across both parties. In the final version. the bill bans corporate investors from buying single-family homes. a move meant to stop Wall Street-style acquisitions from tightening an already strained market. But it also omits a Senate provision that would have required investors to sell newly constructed homes within seven years.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., said the legislation is the product of years of work focused on “lower costs, expand housing supply, cut red tape, protect taxpayers, and help more Americans achieve the dream of homeownership.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the banking panel, framed the bill as a major shift in federal policy. She called it the most significant housing bill to pass Congress since 1990. when the average home in America was sold for $150. 000. adding that homes now cost more than $500. 000.
In her view, the bill’s biggest impact is who is allowed to buy. “The bill ‘acknowledges that the federal government has a role to play in lowering housing prices. ’” Warren told The Associated Press. “For the first time ever. private equity will be blocked from buying up single-family homes and trying to turn housing into one more Wall Street investment.”.
The measure is already being treated as a rare bipartisan win in a political climate where much of Republicans’ agenda has stalled. House approval is expected later this week before the bill goes to President Donald Trump, who has signaled his support.
For Democrats, the bill’s politics are less about winning an argument than meeting a crisis. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who helped negotiate the legislation, called it a “huge step toward finally addressing the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country.”
Housing costs have become a shared talking point between the parties. and the bill leans into that reality rather than fighting over whether there’s a problem. Republicans and Democrats argue the nation is facing an affordability crisis shaped in part by rising home prices driven by a shortage of affordable housing.
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates climbed from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied homes have hovered close to a 4-million annual pace since 2023. falling well short of the 5.2-million annual pace that is historically normal. Sales slowed last year to a 30-year low. and have remained sluggish so far this year. declining in January and February compared with a year earlier.
The case for action has also been supported by research and data. The Economic Report of the President in April found a shortage of 10 million homes. A report this month from the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University found sales of existing homes were at three-decade lows and that inventories were rising due to high home buying costs.
The Harvard report warned that “Cost burdens for both renters and owners continue to climb. while assistance remains profoundly underfunded.” Even with median U.S. monthly rent declining for nearly three years. it was still 17.2% higher in May than it was before the pandemic. according to data from Realtor.com.
The bill’s main approach is to make construction easier and faster while giving local governments more room to shape development. It would streamline environmental reviews and speed up the construction process. It would offer funding to local governments that build more housing. including Community Development Block Grant money to places exceeding the median rate of homebuilding. It would also provide new dollars for communities to turn abandoned infrastructure into housing. and it offers a framework for communities that want to reform outdated zoning regulations that often limit larger housing developments.
It also shifts how financing would work. The legislation would allow banks to invest more in affordable housing and raise limits on the number of public housing units that can receive private financing through Section 8 funding to rehabilitate properties. It would remove outdated requirements and expand federal financing to make manufactured homes more affordable.
Warren argued that manufactured housing has long been a practical solution that people can’t fully access. “Manufactured housing produces some of the most cost-effective housing in America. but access to financing has been tightly restricted. ” Warren said. “This creates the opportunity for more manufactured housing and. at the same time. creates a structure for people living in manufactured housing communities to organize and protect their investment in their homes.”.
One of the most difficult negotiations came down to disasters. Lawmakers in the two chambers disagreed over a federal disaster recovery program. An earlier Senate bill had permanently authorized block grant recovery funds. a change intended to ensure that funding requests aren’t needed after every disaster. House lawmakers opposed that provision because of concerns over how the program was run. so the two sides agreed on a three-year authorization instead.
Even with the compromises—and the missing seven-year investor sell-off provision—housing leaders largely signaled support. The legislation received widespread backing across the housing community. including organizations representing landlords and large property owners as well as groups advocating for tenants and low-income renters.
David Dworkin. chief executive of the National Housing Conference. the nation’s oldest housing coalition. described the bill as both incomplete and meaningful. “There is no magic wand that will fix this crisis overnight. and no single piece of legislation is perfect. ” Dworkin said. “Compromise demands that. But this bill is a significant down payment on a long-term effort to make housing more affordable for all Americans.”.
Now the focus turns to whether the House will preserve the deal Democrats and Republicans reached in the Senate—and whether the bill can move fast enough to reach President Donald Trump this week. For many Americans, the urgency isn’t theoretical. It’s measured in monthly costs, stalled moves, and homes that keep getting farther away.
Senate housing bill bipartisan legislation housing supply home prices zoning reform private equity ban Section 8 Community Development Block Grant manufactured housing disaster recovery block grants