The ROAD to Housing Act cleared a key hurdle by passing unanimously out of committee. It now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and the rest of her committee colleagues in passing the bipartisan Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act through committee.This legislation includes provisions from Cortez Masto’s HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act (HOME Act) and Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Act, which she introduced earlier this year to address the affordable housing crisis in Nevada and across the country.
“In Nevada and across the United States, we’re facing a severe housing crisis that requires urgent action,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “Today, my colleagues and I have taken an important step to tackle this crisis – a bipartisan, landmark housing package that’s focused on real commonsense solutions like my HOME Act and PRICE Act. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this bill passed through Congress and onto the President’s desk.”
The provisions included from the HOME Act would reauthorize the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) for the first time in 30 years. This program is used to finance new construction and home repairs and to fund down payment and rental assistance. The updated legislation will also make a number of technical fixes to ensure funding is being spent appropriately and that land trusts can benefit. Between 1992 and 2024, HOME built or preserved nearly 9,000 homes, helping 1,354 families with rental assistance and supporting 15,484 jobs. Nevada has received $264 million in HOME funds resulting in $1.5 billion in investments for housing.
The provisions included from the PRICE Act would help preserve and revitalize manufactured housing communities by permanently reauthorizing Cortez Masto’s 2022 PRICE grant program, which provides funding for construction of and improvements to manufactured homes and communities. In December, the pilot program awarded $225 million to 17 winners in 26 states. About 18 million Americans live in manufactured homes. In Nevada, there are 69,366 manufactured homes – approximately six percent of all homes – and 535 manufactured home communities.
The ROAD to Housing Act will take important steps to boost the nation’s housing supply, improve housing affordability, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs. The bill includes legislation from members across the entire committee, including provisions to:
- Roll back regulatory red tape to speed up housing development;
- Help more homeless veterans access VA housing;
- Reform the existing Rural Housing Service to help preserve affordable housing in rural areas including the 57 USDA properties serving 2,113 residents in Nevada; and
- Create a pilot program at HUD to offer grants and forgivable loans to homeowners and small landlords to address home repair needs and health hazards.
Read a section-by-section of the bill here and the full bill here.
Senator Cortez Masto has been a leader working to lower housing costs and build more homes. Earlier this month, Cortez Masto secured $5.1 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) of San Francisco to assist with the construction or preservation of 273 affordable housing units in Nevada, and she’s pushing to reform the FHLBanks. Earlier this year, she introduced the Affordable Housing Bond Enhancement Act, which would make homeownership more accessible and sustainable for working families. Last year, her AACE Act to cut red tape to speed up federal land transactions and lower housing costs was signed into law.
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