Senate Passes a Bipartisan Housing Bill 85-5, Capping Wall Street Buyers

The Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on June 22, 2026, by a vote of 85 to 5. It is the broadest federal housing bill Congress has advanced in years, and it now moves to the House.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote the package together. They folded more than 45 separate housing bills from both chambers into one measure, which is part of why a sharply divided Senate agreed on it by such a wide margin.

A Cap on Wall Street Homebuyers

The provision with the most reach for renters targets large investors. Section 901 bars any firm that already owns 350 or more single-family homes from buying more of them. It closes a channel that let Wall Street outbid families for the same starter houses.

The cap has limits. It applies only to new purchases, so the homes these firms already hold stay in their portfolios. A build-to-rent exception also lets them keep buying as long as they sell each house to an individual homeowner within seven years.

This is the same trend behind the rent-setting algorithm the Justice Department settled over this spring. Concentrated ownership gives a handful of companies the power to set prices in a local market.

What the Bill Does to Build More Homes

Most of the bill is about adding supply. It speeds up environmental reviews for federally backed housing, creates a $200 million-a-year grant fund for towns that measurably increase their housing stock, and pays for pre-approved design templates for duplexes, townhouses, and backyard units.

It also rewrites the rules for factory-built homes. The bill drops the federal requirement that manufactured homes sit on a permanent chassis, a change the industry says lowers costs, and it raises FHA loan limits for modular construction.

What the Bill Leaves Out

The final version authorizes programs without paying for them. Negotiators removed the language appropriating money for many provisions, so several will not take effect unless a future spending bill funds them.

It also does little new for people who already rent. The bill leans on deregulation and new construction rather than rent relief or eviction protection, and the investor cap does nothing about the homes Wall Street already owns.

Why It Matters

The country is short millions of affordable rental homes, and a supply bill cannot close that gap by itself.

7.1 million affordable rental homes are missing for the lowest-income families nationwide, per the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Even so, this is the most serious federal housing action since the pandemic-era programs lapsed. The investor cap and the building incentives cleared the Senate with a bipartisan supermajority, which gives them a real chance in the House if the funding holds.

What You Can Do Now

Call your House representative at (202) 224-3121. Ask them to vote to pass the ROAD to Housing Act and to restore the funding negotiators stripped out. The bill heads to the House now that the Senate has acted.
Send a written message through the House directory to find your representative. Name the institutional-investor cap when you write. Offices count messages by volume.
If your representative sits on the House Financial Services Committee, say so when you call. That committee has jurisdiction over the bill’s housing-finance provisions and will shape the final text.
Track the bill as S.2651 at Congress.gov. Contact your representative’s office before any floor vote, since the window to weigh in can be short.