On Monday, February 9, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644) by a bipartisan vote of 390–9, marking the most significant federal housing reform effort in more than a decade. If enacted, the legislation would represent a major federal investment in housing supply, infrastructure and program modernization—areas counties have long identified as critical to meeting local housing needs.
The Senate is expected to consider its own housing package, the ROAD to Housing, in the coming weeks, setting the stage for a potential conference committee to reconcile differences between the two bills. As Congress works toward a final product, NACo is urging lawmakers to preserve the core principles reflected in H.R. 6644: flexibility, strong local partnerships and scalable tools that allow counties to expand housing supply and supporting infrastructure in ways that reflect local conditions.
What’s in the bill
The Housing for the 21st Century Act would modernize several key federal housing programs, streamline regulatory processes and expand local flexibility for counties.
The bill would expand and modernize the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program by raising income eligibility thresholds, allowing counties to better address gaps in workforce housing. To reduce administrative barriers and speed construction, certain low-impact rehabilitation and infill projects would be exempt from full National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental impact reviews. The bill also allows grantees that do not receive Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement funds to use HOME dollars for housing-adjacent infrastructure. Unlike the Senate proposal and the standalone HOME Reform Act, the House bill does not change the threshold that triggers Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements.
CDBG would also see important updates. The bill expands eligible uses of CDBG funds to include new construction and requires entitlement communities to submit non-binding reports on adopted or planned zoning reforms that promote housing growth, as well as to publish a database of undeveloped land owned by the jurisdiction. Notably, unlike the Senate’s ROAD to Housing proposal, the House bill does not tie CDBG funding to local housing production levels, preserving existing formulas and avoiding performance-based penalties.
To encourage housing development at the local level, the bill creates new planning and implementation grants for regional planning agencies to review and update local codes, and provides funding for local “pattern books” of pre-approved home designs to help speed permitting. Like the Senate package, it also directs the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop model zoning frameworks for state and local governments. While this could be a helpful resource for counties, it may also encourage states to move toward more uniform codes that could preempt local zoning authority.
The legislation also directs the U.S. Comptroller General and the Government Accountability Office to study the feasibility of a uniform federal building code, with a focus on impacts to construction timelines and costs.
Several provisions aim to streamline and improve existing federal programs. Units recently inspected under other federal housing programs would automatically meet Section 8 inspection requirements, reducing duplicative reviews. The bill expands access to rural housing tools by strengthening the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Section 504 Home Repair program, shortening USDA processing timelines and directing a comprehensive review of the agency’s technology systems and modernization costs.
To reduce barriers to manufactured housing, the bill removes HUD’s requirement that manufactured homes include a permanent chassis and establishes HUD as the primary federal authority for construction and safety standards. It also directs the Federal Housing Administration to evaluate ways to expand the availability of loans under $100,000—an important financing tool in rural counties and lower-cost markets.
The package also includes provisions to strengthen protections for veterans, renters and assisted families. It would exclude disability benefits from income calculations under the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program, require lenders to remind veterans of potential VA home loan eligibility, and improve coordination among HUD, USDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs on housing research. The bill creates a pilot program allowing assisted families to build savings through rent-based escrow accounts and enhances tenant protections by increasing oversight of HUD-funded housing counselors, establishing a federal eviction assistance helpline and piloting temperature sensors in assisted units to ensure compliance with housing quality standards.
Implications for counties
County leaders have long pointed to regulatory hurdles and program constraints as major obstacles to increasing housing supply. The Housing for the 21st Century Act would streamline federal reviews, modernize core housing programs that counties administer and expand local tools for affordable and workforce housing. If enacted, the bill could create new opportunities for local planning, provide greater flexibility in the use of federal funds and improve coordination between counties and federal partners as communities work to address housing needs.