The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate on March 12 by a vote of 89 to 10. The House passed its version in February, 390 to 9. Bipartisan support at that scale is rare for anything in Congress right now. Housing got it.
The bill is not law yet. The Senate added provisions the House version didn’t include, most notably Section 901, which bans large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. That means the bill goes back to the House for reconciliation before it reaches the President’s desk.
There are other complications. Disagreements over community bank deregulation and digital currency language are slowing the process. The President has also conditioned his signature on passage of a separate voting bill. Final passage is likely but not guaranteed.
What matters for Cincinnati is that the pattern book grant program (Section 211), the single-stair building guidelines, and the CDBG expansion for new construction are in both versions. Those provisions are not in dispute. When this bill becomes law, the federal funding pathway for programs like Cincinnati’s BuildReady will exist permanently.
We covered the bill’s major provisions in detail earlier this year. If you’re catching up: Part 1 covers the bill overview. Part 2 covers pattern books and BuildReady. Part 3 covers single-stair buildings. Part 4 covers Section 901 and institutional investors.