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Republicans in the House of Representatives have stripped a key piece of legislation targeting the nation's housing affordability crisis from a $925B defense bill. The move throws the future of affordability reform efforts on a national level into question.
The text of the National Defense Authorization Act released this week by the House had removed the housing affordability elements, according to Realtor.com. Some House Republicans said they favored a standalone bill for housing issues that reflected their own plans and priorities.
“I share the president’s goals of expanding Americans’ access to housing that fits their needs by reducing regulatory roadblocks to development, increasing housing supply and choice, and strengthening accountability,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, said in a statement.
“Next year, we look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to send a bill to the president’s desk that reflects the views of both chambers and leads to more affordable choices for America’s homeowners and renters.”
Key elements of the bill, called the Road to Housing Act, included a template for zoning and land use policies that could be replicated or borrowed from at the state and local levels, helping communities identify and overcome hurdles to housing development.
Policies such as eliminating parking minimums, allowing duplexes and triplexes by right and reducing lot size requirements work toward the bill's goal of removing the barriers to building more housing. The bill would also facilitate modular housing construction as an alternative to traditional housing construction.
The Senate had passed the bipartisan Road to Housing Act in October as part of its version of the NDAA, the defense spending bill for fiscal year 2026.
The NDAA is often referred to as “must-pass” legislation, as it is one of a few major bills Congress reliably passes every year.
“Lawmakers take pride in having passed it annually for more than six decades,” according to Reuters.
Republicans are expected to put affordability of all colors front and center in important midterm races in 2026.
President Donald Trump has made affordability, including housing affordability, a focal point of his presidency. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act he championed expanded the low-income housing tax credit program, a critical mechanism for creating affordable rental housing, and doubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s budget.
Trump has also made moves that critics say harm affordability, including cutting funding to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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