US lawmakers advance bill to lower housing prices
REPUBLICANS and Democrats in Congress are lining up behind legislation to encourage more affordable housing, in a rare example of bipartisan action on a quality-of-life issue for voters.
The bill, which has drawn broad support from industry groups, would overhaul regulations to make it faster and cheaper to build new housing. It would also modernize rules for factory-built housing and ban large investment groups from buying more single-family homes, a measure backed by President Donald Trump.
At a time when Republicans and Democrats are fighting bitterly over Trump’s immigration crackdown and the war in Iran, lawmakers have rallied around the affordable-housing effort.
The latest version, led by Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday by an 89-9 vote. Passage is expected in coming days.
The United States House of Representatives passed its own version by a similar margin, and the two chambers will have to resolve their differences before Trump can sign it into law.
Lawmakers are eager to show voters they are tackling the issue ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.
The affordability debate has encompassed everything from the cost of eggs to child care, but few items account for a larger share of household budgets than housing.
Economists say the U.S. has a shortage of roughly four million homes after years of underbuilding following the 2008 financial crisis, while local zoning rules often make it difficult to build in developed areas.
Supply-chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic drove building-material costs higher as well, while the sharp increase in interest rates that followed also pushed up mortgage costs.
—Reuters
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