Rep. Mike Thompson. Courtesy photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MPG) – July 11, the historic, bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) became law. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) voted “yes” to pass this landmark bill that will help increase the supply of affordable housing, streamline the process of building more homes and modernize outdated programs to help create more pathways to homeownership and bring much-needed relief to renters. The bill officially became law at midnight Friday night despite the refusal of President Trump to sign the bipartisan bill.

“This is a huge first step in tackling our housing crisis in California,” said Thompson. “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will help us build more housing, lower mortgage and rental costs and expand home ownership. I was proud to support this historic, bipartisan legislation and I will continue to work to ensure this is rolled out quickly so our communities can get the support they need.”

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is the result of extensive negotiations across the aisle and is the most significant housing package in a generation. H.R. 6644 includes dozens of bipartisan provisions to build new housing, lower mortgage and rental costs, expand homeownership, modernize federal housing programs, prioritize homebuyers and renters over corporate landlords and support community bankers that finance affordable housing development and mortgages.

Regarding housing supply and development the bill encourages office-to-housing and commercial-to-residential conversions, creates grant programs to help local governments build more housing and streamlines environmental and permitting reviews for certain housing projects. The bill also allows certain federal grants to support affordable housing construction directly, continues federal rental assistance for residents of certain rural affordable housing properties, helping preserve affordability and housing stability in rural communities and helps low- and moderate-income communities recover from major disasters.

For manufactured and modular housing the bill encourages more factory-built housing production., directs the federal Housing and Urban Development agency to review barriers to modular housing financing and construction, increases federal loan limits for manufactured housing and provides grants to manufactured housing communities, like mobile home parks, to preserve affordability, address infrastructure needs and expand homeownership opportunities.

Additionally, the bill creates a federal pilot program for small-dollar mortgages under $100,000 to help lower-income buyers access financing. As well as expands support for community banks, credit unions, CDFIs and rural financial institutions that provide mortgage lending and affordable housing financing and allows banks to put more money into affordable housing construction and preservation projects before hitting their federal investment limit for homeownership and mortgage access.

Lastly, concerning renter and tenant protections the bill restricts large corporations that own more than 350 single-family homes from purchasing additional single-family homes, while still allowing some build-to-rent activity. It also creates a national renter resource center, including a complaint hotline and public website, for disputes involving large institutional landlords.