Kelly-Backed Bill to Boost Affordable Housing and Lower Costs Set to Become Law

Today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly celebrated the final passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, bipartisan legislation to build more homes, bring down housing costs, and expand affordable housing options for families across Arizona and the country. The bill includes Kelly-backed provisions to support manufactured housing by eliminating the costly permanent chassis requirement, cut red tape that slows construction by simplifying National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) reviews for small and infill housing projects, and crack down on large institutional investors buying up single-family homes and pricing working families out of the housing market.

"Families across Arizona are working hard, but owning a home is still out of reach," said Kelly. "This bipartisan bill will build more homes, lower costs, and create more opportunities to achieve the American dream. I'm proud to see this effort cross the finish line."

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes several provisions to support manufactured housing, including the Kelly-backed Housing Supply Expansion Act, which modernizes the federal definition of manufactured housing to include units not built on a permanent chassis. A major priority of affordable housing advocates, this provision will encourage innovation in manufactured housing, ease zoning constraints, and lower housing costs.

As Arizona families face rising rents, increased home prices, skyrocketing utility costs, and higher construction expenses, Kelly has pushed for policies that lower costs by increasing housing supply. He introduced theHOPE for Homeownership Act to crack down on hedge funds and other institutional investors driving up costs in the single-family housing market, introduced the More Homes on the Market Actto incentivize more homeowners to sell and increase the number of available homes on the market, and pressed the Trump administration to pursue policies that would lower housing costs for Arizona families and abandon the chaotic tariff schemes that are just making it more expensive to build new homes.

Background:

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is built around four core pillars:

• Cutting red tape
• Unlocking housing supply
• Lowering costs for families
• Including no new mandatory federal spending

The bill streamlines environmental reviews and construction activities across programs, modernizes manufactured housing rules, unlocks private investment, updates multifamily financing tools, and limits certain large institutional investors from crowding out families in residential markets.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act lowers costs by increasing supply, empowering local communities, and protecting taxpayers, proving that Congress can solve big problems by addressing housing affordability concerns with common sense solutions.

Click here to read the bill text and click here for a section-by-section.