U.S. Senators Katie Britt, Tim Scott, Colleagues Introduce Comprehensive Housing Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 12, 2024 – U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and six of their Banking Committee colleagues introduced the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act, legislation to reverse decades of failed housing policies and make targeted reforms across all segments of the U.S. housing market.

The ROAD to Housing Act takes a comprehensive view of federal housing policy, introducing long-needed reforms across all segments of the U.S. housing market, centering support around families and communities.

“There is no doubt our nation faces an affordable housing crisis, and for many hardworking individuals and families, the American Dream of home ownership is completely out of reach. The ROAD to Housing Act is a comprehensive solution that would take a targeted approach to remove unnecessary red tape to lower the cost of housing, while expanding access to important resources like housing counseling and financial literacy programs. I’m pleased to join my Senate Banking colleagues in supporting Ranking Member Scott’s legislation to empower more Americans and Alabamians with the opportunity to own a home,” said Senator Britt.

“I’m the son of a single mother – growing up, we lived with family until we were able to rent a small place of our own. I know firsthand the importance of access to quality, affordable housing. Unfortunately, Democrats’ solution for years has been to spend trillions on programs that have yielded little results, especially for minorities as homeownership rates for African Americans have barely changed in over 50 years,” said Ranking Member Scott. “Costs to buy a home and to rent continue to increase, and homelessness is at record levels. It’s past time for Congress to take serious action to reverse decades of failed housing policies and put all Americans on the road to housing.”  

Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) also cosponsored the ROAD to Housing Act.

BACKGROUND:

For too long, scattershot approaches to assist renters, homeowners, and the homeless have failed to produce meaningful results. The ROAD to Housing Act would pave the way to increasing housing supply, improving quality of life for families, and importantly, providing economic opportunity in communities across the nation by addressing key factors including:

• Safety and Soundness: Ensuring the households who utilize federal housing programs have greater access to tools that enhance financial literacy and improve economic opportunity.
• Competition and Innovation: Encouraging responsible innovation and allow new approaches to ensure communities, whether rural or urban, can meet the housing needs of their residents.
• Providing Housing Opportunity and Combating Homelessness: Incentivizing success by rewarding the efforts of housing and service providers or communities who actually reduce the number of individuals who are homeless. This legislation would also support local public housing authorities by investing in solutions that deconcentrate poverty and enable families to access self-sufficiency.
• Holding Agencies Accountable and Reducing Regulatory Burdens: Reviewing how overregulation contributes to excessive costs and delays in the supply of affordable housing. However, we cannot understand the success of our programs if we cannot measure them, so this legislation would also rethink how agencies collect and analyze data to help policymakers better understand if programs are working.

For the full bill text, click here. 

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