21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Aims to Address Housing Supply and Affordability

Earlier this summer, Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that aims to increase housing access and improve opportunity. As housing shortages continue to create challenges for communities nationwide, this act marks one of the most significant housing packages that has been passed in decades. Key takeaways from the bill include: 

• Speeding up home construction timelines and streamlining the development process by reducing environmental compliance measures for certain developments 

• Funding disaster and resilience planning through the CDBG Disaster Recovery Program for three years 

• Limiting large institutional investment purchases of single family homes, prioritizing housing opportunity 

• Raising the cap from 15% to 20% on bank public welfare investments for affordable housing and community development projects, creating additional private capital 

• Providing land use and zoning policy guidance to help address barriers to housing for communities 

• Encouraging public private partnerships to boost the supply of housing  

How will this impact local governments and communities in Johnson County? 

Local governments eligible to receive federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds can now invest their grants directly into new housing construction, making the federal program’s funds much more flexible. The legislation also creates brand new pilot grant programs which will be available to local and regional governments in the coming year to support their housing plans. One of these new programs is a federal Home Repair program, which provides grant money and forgivable loans for homeowners needing home repairs or maintenance to preserve existing housing stock. With disaster funding also becoming more readily available, communities will be able to access housing recovery aid with greater ease. Perhaps most importantly, the ROAD to Housing Act seeks to preserve local authority, and does not impose any federal or state mandates for its programming.  

While the passage of this act authorizes funding for these priorities, Congress will still need to work to appropriate such funding. However, communities can expect to see the impact of this bill in the next few years as agencies begin to implement these changes. This bill marks the beginning of an important step forward for housing policy and preserving housing opportunities for all.  

To read more about the ROAD to Housing Act, please see the following resources:  

National League of Cities FAQs 

Bipartisan Policy Center Explainer