Feb 04

House of Representatives to Vote on Housing for the 21st Century Act Next Week

The Housing for the 21st Century Act has been noticed for a vote under suspension of the rules, a fast-track procedure that requires 290 votes, next week (the week of February 9, with the exact date of the vote to be determined). The Housing for the 21st Century Act is a set of bipartisan housing proposals led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) that advanced out of the House Financial Services Committee by a near-unanimous vote in December. (See our overview of the Committee-passed bill here.) The updated text of the House bill can be found here, with some changes from when the bill advanced out of the Committee.

Key components of the Housing for the 21st Century Act:

  • The Housing for the 21st Century Act includes the proposal to lift the public welfare investment (PWI) cap from 15 to 20 percent.  The proposal to lift the PWI cap comes from the Community Investment and Prosperity Act (S. 2464/H.R. 5913), led by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Sens. Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-DE), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), and Andy Kim (D-NJ) in the Senate, and Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Young Kim (R-CA) in the House. The measure passed the Senate as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a package of bipartisan housing provisions from the ROAD to Housing Act (S. 2651), led by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
  • The Housing for the 21st Century Act also includes NEPA and HUD environmental review streamlining provisions, which would reduce delays for small, infill, and HUD-assisted housing projects.
  • Though the Housing for the 21st Century Act includes many elements of the HOME Reform Act, the provision to exempt HOME funds from Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements that was previously included in the legislation was not included in the updated bill text. Instead, the bill now includes a provision that would direct HUD to conduct an evaluation of BABA and issue updated guidance on it within 90 days. There may still be an opportunity to include the BABA exemption in a final negotiated bill between the House and the Senate, which would occur after the floor vote.

Because there are significant differences between the House’s Housing for the 21st Century Act and the Senate’s ROAD to Housing Act (see a side-by-side from Novogradac), further negotiation will be needed before a final housing package is enacted. In the meantime, the AHTCC is encouraging passage of the Housing for the 21st Century Act through the House with the strongest bipartisan support possible. Please contact the AHTCC team for any assistance with your outreach.

The AHTCC has been actively engaged in advocacy efforts supporting the PWI cap increase proposal, which would expand private capital available for affordable housing by increasing banks’ capacity to invest in the Housing Credit. The AHTCC, Affordable Housing Investors Council and National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders recently surveyed 22 banks, representing more than $14 billion in 2024 Housing Credit investments. The survey found that over 42 percent of the represented investments ($6.1 billion) came from banks approaching the current 15 percent PWI cap. Expanding banks’ capacity to invest in the Housing Credit could help sustain demand for the additional credits made available through the program’s historic expansion in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) earlier this year. Read more in the AHTCC’s fact sheet outlining how the PWI cap increase would impact affordable housing production.

“The Housing for the 21st Century Act provides a set of commonsense, bipartisan housing proposals that would increase the supply of affordable housing at a time when housing affordability is top of mind in every part of the country, “said Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition Chief Executive Officer Emily Cadik. “In particular, the proposal to lift banks’ public welfare investment cap would unlock billions of additional private sector investment to support affordable housing development using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the nation’s most successful tool for producing affordable rental housing. We applaud Housing Finance Committee Chairman Hill and Ranking Member Waters, Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Chairman Flood and Ranking Member Cleaver, and Representatives Lawler, Beatty and Kim for their work to advance this provision, and urge the House to advance this important legislation.”