The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs took a major step toward addressing America’s housing affordability challenges on Tuesday, unanimously passing the bipartisan Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025 (Download text of the ROAD to Housing Actpdf). The legislation represents a comprehensive federal response to housing challenges, targeting barriers that have made it increasingly difficult for families to achieve the American dream of homeownership.
In a letter to committee chair Tim Scott (R–S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.), the National Association of REALTORS® expressed its strong support for the bill.
“We commend your leadership in crafting this landmark, comprehensive piece of legislation that addresses the full spectrum of housing needs while prioritizing pathways to homeownership for American families,” the letter stated. “NAR previously endorsed many of these provisions as standalone measures, and we appreciate this collaborative approach to addressing our nation's housing challenges.”
With housing costs consuming an ever-larger share of family budgets nationwide, the bill offers a multipronged approach to increasing supply, reducing barriers to development and creating new pathways to homeownership.
The ROAD to Housing Act includes many provisions designed to meet America’s diverse housing needs:
- Building More Homes and Cutting Red Tape: Helps communities overcome zoning and other barriers, streamlines environmental reviews for housing projects, and creates grants for communities that build more homes.
- Opening Doors to Homeownership: Removes barriers that make it harder to get smaller mortgages, improves the home appraisal process, helps families save for homes, and ensures veterans know about their home loan benefits.
- Supporting Housing Innovation: Updates rules and financing for manufactured and modular homes and encourages new building technologies that make housing more affordable.
- Helping Communities Recover from Disasters: Permanently authorizes disaster recovery efforts to help communities rebuild while incorporating resilience measures to reduce repetitive losses and maintain insurability.
“NAR strongly supports this bipartisan legislation that addresses housing supply, affordability and homeownership pathways,” says Shannon McGahn, executive vice president and chief advocacy officer for the National Association of REALTORS®. “At a time when homeownership increasingly feels out of reach, this legislation offers meaningful, pragmatic solutions to restore opportunity for millions of American families. We commend chair Tim Scott and ranking member Elizabeth Warren for their bipartisan leadership on this critical issue and look forward to working with Congress and the administration to enact this vital legislation and help preserve the American dream of homeownership for future generations.”
The bill now moves to the full Senate next, with Tuesday’s unanimous vote sending a clear message: Lawmakers are committed to working together to tackle America’s housing affordability challenges.
