America is in the grips of a severe housing crisis. For years, the country has underbuilt homes relative to population growth, job creation, and household formation. Economists estimate a national shortfall of 3 to 7 million units, driving rents and home prices to record highs and pricing out young families, seniors on fixed incomes, and essential workers. Homelessness is rising in many cities, and the ripple effects (longer commutes, strained local budgets, slower economic mobility) are felt nationwide.
On March 2, 2026, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a sweeping bipartisan package that merges the House-passed Housing for the 21st Century Act and the Senate’s Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act.
The legislation draws on more than two dozen previously introduced bipartisan ideas and includes new provisions supported by the Trump administration. Critically, the bill contains no new mandatory spending or appropriations language, focusing instead on smarter rules, faster permitting, and targeted incentives to unlock supply.
This is not another symbolic housing bill. It is a supply-side overhaul designed to cut red tape, modernize outdated programs, and reward communities that actually build more homes.
Below is a detailed look at its major components—and why they represent a meaningful step toward closing the nation’s housing deficit.
Building More in America: The Supply Engine
The heart of the legislation is Title 2, which packs a dozen targeted reforms aimed squarely at increasing housing production. Several sections tackle the regulatory bottlenecks that have slowed development for decades.
The Better Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development (BUILD) Housing Act and the Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act reform the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for federally assisted housing projects. HUD can now designate certain housing initiatives as “special projects,” delegate environmental reviews to states and localities, and expand categorical exclusions. These changes reduce years of paperwork and legal delays that currently add hundreds of thousands of dollars to every project. By accelerating approvals, the bill directly attacks one of the biggest drivers of undersupply: regulatory paralysis.
Complementing these reforms is the Build Now Act, which ties Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to actual housing production. Jurisdictions that accelerate permitting and zoning reforms receive bonus funding; those that lag face modest reductions. For the first time, CDBG dollars can also be used for new affordable housing construction under the Addition of Affordable Housing Construction as an Eligible Activity provision. Local governments that have long treated CDBG as a maintenance fund will now have a powerful incentive to greenlight new units.
The bill also creates an Innovation Fund—a $200 million annual competitive grant program that rewards cities, counties, and tribes for proven increases in housing supply. Eligible reforms include streamlined permitting, density bonuses, zoning changes that allow more homes per acre, and better coordination between housing and transportation planning. A separate Grants for Planning and Implementation program helps local governments update outdated codes, hire inspectors, and integrate housing into broader infrastructure plans. These carrots, rather than sticks, encourage the kind of local policy shifts that studies consistently show can add hundreds of thousands of homes over time.
Other practical measures include the Accelerating Home Building Act, which funds pre-reviewed designs for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), duplexes, and other modest-scale housing that can be built quickly, and the RESIDE Act, a pilot program to convert vacant commercial and industrial buildings into affordable homes. By repurposing existing structures, the bill taps into underused urban land without the full cost or environmental impact of greenfield development.
These provisions collectively address the core problem of undersupply: local governments often have little incentive (and plenty of political pressure) to block new housing. By tying federal dollars to production, streamlining reviews, and funding innovation, the act flips the script. It makes building politically and financially rewarding rather than risky and expensive. If implemented aggressively, these changes could unlock millions of new units over the next decade, easing pressure on rents and home prices nationwide.
Modernizing Manufactured and Modular Housing
Factory-built housing offers one of the fastest, most affordable ways to scale supply, yet outdated federal rules have held it back. Title 3 removes the permanent chassis requirement for manufactured homes, lets HUD lead on energy-efficiency standards, and boosts financing options through higher FHA loan limits and studies of barriers to modular construction. The PRICE Act reauthorizes grants to repair and improve existing manufactured-home communities.
These reforms are especially powerful in rural and suburban markets where land is cheaper but traditional site-built homes remain too expensive. By lowering costs and removing arbitrary barriers, the bill expands a proven pathway to more attainable homeownership and rental options, which directly helps close the gap for middle-income families.
Expanding Access and Reforming Programs
The legislation doesn’t stop at new construction. It modernizes existing tools. The HOME Investment Partnerships Program is reauthorized with greater flexibility for infrastructure and production. Rural Housing Service rules have been updated to decouple rental assistance from maturing mortgages and to permanently establish preservation programs. Small-dollar mortgages (under $100,000) get regulatory relief through CFPB studies on points, fees, and originator incentives, which are critical for first-time buyers in lower-cost areas.
New cohorts of the Moving to Work program and opt-out demonstrations for family self-sufficiency initiatives promote economic mobility. Interagency coordination between HUD, USDA, and VA is mandated to eliminate duplicative rules, particularly in rural areas.
A Pragmatic Path Forward
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is refreshingly focused on results over rhetoric. It avoids massive new spending, instead using incentives, regulatory modernization, and targeted pilots to encourage more homes to be built faster and cheaper. By rewarding communities that reform zoning and permitting, streamlining environmental reviews, and expanding factory-built options, the bill attacks the supply shortage at its roots.
Critics may argue that some measures don’t go far enough or that local resistance will persist. Yet the combination of carrots (grants, bonuses) and modest sticks (CDBG adjustments), paired with proven bipartisan ideas, gives this legislation a real shot at moving the needle. In a polarized Congress, the fact that Senators Scott and Warren could forge an agreement on such a comprehensive package is itself noteworthy, and a hopeful sign that pragmatic solutions to the housing crisis can still cross the aisle.
If passed and implemented with urgency, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act could mark a turning point: the moment the United States stopped talking about its housing shortage and finally started building its way out of it. Families, workers, and communities across the country stand to benefit. The road ahead is long, but this bill lays down a solid, bipartisan foundation.