On October 9, the United States Senate passed the bipartisan Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025 (ROAD to Housing Act) as part of its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The legislation represents a comprehensive federal response to housing challenges, targeting barriers that have made it increasingly difficult for families to achieve homeownership. 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 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.

Introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, the ROAD to Housing Act was previously passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Senators Scott and Warren offered an amendment to include the bill in the NDAA.

"NAR applauds the Senate for passing this bipartisan legislation that addresses housing supply, affordability and homeownership pathways," says Shannon McGahn, executive vice president and chief advocacy officer for NAR. "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 Senator Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren for their bipartisan leadership on this critical issue. We 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."

NAR previously sent a letter of strong support for the bill to Committee Chair Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren.

The NDAA now advances to the House, where differences between the House and Senate versions will be resolved.