PASSED THE SENATE: Major Bipartisan Housing Affordability Package, Including Wall Street Home Purchase Ban and Senator Hassan-Supported Bills

WASHINGTON, DC - In case you missed it, the U.S. Senate last week passed the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, a major housing affordability package that provides funding to help build more homes for the middle-class, cuts home construction red tape, and makes it easier for veterans to buy homes. The package includes a measure to ban Wall Street funds from buying up single-family homes, as well as several pieces of legislation that Senator Hassan cosponsored and helped advance. The Senate passed the package 89-10.

"The housing crisis hurts New Hampshire families, stretches budgets thin, and denies people the stability that owning their own home can provide," said Senator Hassan. "This bipartisan bill takes important steps forward to build more homes that people can afford and stops big Wall Street funds from buying up people's homes. The strong bipartisan support for this package is a sign of the urgent need to address our country's housing crisis, and I urge my colleagues in the House to take up and pass this bill."

The legislation, which must now be considered in the House of Representatives, includes a suite of measures to help speed up the construction of more middle-class housing. Namely, it streamlines review processes and removes regulatory barriers to speed up housing construction, while rewarding communities that meet housing construction goals with more funding. It also improves the federal housing programs that are already working to get affordable housing built, and it gives state and local governments new tools to address the housing challenges in their communities. Additionally, the bill takes steps to keep large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes.

The package includes a number of bills that Senator Hassan co-sponsored, including:

• The Housing Supply Expansion Act, which makes manufactured homes more affordable for families

• The PRICE Act, which provides funding to manufactured housing communities for important infrastructure upgrades and weatherization

• The VA Home Loan Awareness Act, which helps veterans learn about the VA home loan benefits that may be available to them when buying a home

• The Streamlining Rural Housing Act, which cuts red tape and unnecessary barriers that often delay new construction and drive housing costs even higher

Senator Hassan has worked to address affordability and availability of housing in New Hampshire, including by pushing to expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to help increase access to affordable housing. Of the many visits she has made to affordable housing communities, she most recently, in January, visited a senior housing community in Newmarket that prioritizes low-income Granite State seniors.

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