House and Senate Housing Reform Packages: Side-by-Side

As Congress considers comprehensive housing legislation, both the House and Senate proposals include major updates to federal housing programs that counties rely on to improve affordability and support infrastructure and community development projects.

In March, the Senate passed the hybrid 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which combined elements of the House’s Housing for the 21st Century Act with the Senate’s existing bill, the ROAD to Housing Act. Still, key differences remain between the two bills as the two chambers look to negotiate a final product.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of major provisions.

The HOME program provides flexible formula funding to counties and states to support affordable housing development, rehabilitation and homeownership activities. These proposals would expand counties’ ability to serve workforce households and fund housing-related infrastructure, with the Senate bill offering greater long-term program certainty through reauthorization.

There is growing debate over large institutional investors’ participation in the housing market. Earlier this year, the White House expressed their intent to ban large institutional investors from owning a significant number of single-family homes. While counties may not be directly affected, an investment moratorium may have downstream impacts on housing supply, tenant protections and local administrative processes.

Counties are required to complete environmental review requirements for federally funded projects before advancing housing and infrastructure developments. Changes to these requirements would streamline reviews for specified, low-impact projects, with the Senate bill applying broader relief across more locally administered HUD projects.

Counties will benefit from federal grants to support modernizing zoning, land use policies and housing strategies to increase supply and affordability. The Senate bill adds further flexible funding and tools to help counties scale innovative solutions and repurpose underutilized properties.

Rural communities often face unique housing challenges, with limited funding streams available to address these issues. Each bill reforms different U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs meant to address rural housing needs.

“Pattern books” refer to a set of construction designs that have been pre-approved for compliance with a given local building code. Building within these pre-approved parameters is thought to expedite plans reviews and reduce overhead costs of construction.

Factory-built housing may provide a lower-cost alternative to conventional site-built housing. However, these homes often face additional regulatory hurdles, as well as trouble securing traditional financing. Both bills seek to promote the use of manufactured or modular housing as a way to increase supply in high-cost communities.

Both bills exempt veterans’ disability benefits from their income calculation for eligibility under the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program. This effectively expands program eligibility for more veterans who otherwise would not have qualified.  

The Senate bill includes new flexibility under the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program, allowing counties to request a waiver to exceed the 60 percent cap on street outreach activities. This change would give counties greater discretion to tailor homelessness response strategies based on local conditions, particularly in communities with significant unsheltered populations.

Meanwhile, the House bill includes a number of provisions aiming to ease restrictions on mortgage lending, particularly through community banking entities.