The 21st Century Road to Housing Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate last week and awaits action from President Trump.
The 21st Century Road to Housing Act is comprehensive housing legislation aimed at increasing housing supply, improving affordability, and curbing institutional investor influence in the single-family housing market while expanding federal support and oversight for housing programs.
Argentum, the American Seniors Housing Association, and the National Center for Assisted Living engaged with House and Senate leaders regarding the Multi-Unit & 55+ Corporate Exemptions section of the bill. Specifically, we advocated for clarifying language to ensure these exemptions apply to existing senior housing communities, as the current text appeared to focus primarily on new construction, renovations, and rental conversions.
We are pleased to announce that as a result of our joint advocacy and particularly the support of House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA), language was inserted in the Congressional Record that provides legislative intent to exclude senior living communities from this provision.
Specifically, the intent language states “purchases of homes used to provide residential care for individuals with disabilities or developmental disabilities, or in senior living communities, should be exempt, as these are unrelated to the problem being addressed by the Act.”
President Trump is expected to receive the bipartisan housing deregulation bill today from Congress. He has until around July 10th to sign or veto the legislation. Absent one of these actions, the bill becomes law without his signature. The President hasn’t committed to signing or vetoing the bill at this point, although he previously warned that he won’t sign anything until Republicans push through the SAVE Act, formally known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The SAVE Act would amend federal voter registration law to require individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and would require states to take additional steps to identify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
We will continue to monitor the President’s actions and provide further updates.