A bill to renew the 'American Dream' of housing just passed a Congressional hurdle
A Senate committee unanimously approved a major housing bill July 29, signaling bipartisan support for an issue that’s plaguing constituents in districts around the country.
The Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025 was sponsored by Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. The legislation aims to “increase the supply of affordable housing in America” through a wide range of policies, including increasing construction, making small mortgages more attainable, reforming the appraisal process and supporting manufactured housing, among others.
The legislation “would be the most impactful and comprehensive piece of housing legislation since the Great Recession,” which began in 2007, said analysts at the Bipartisan Policy Center in a summary published after the bill passed through the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
One hint at just how comprehensive the bill is: it incorporates part of at least 27 previously introduced pieces of legislation, the summary explained, of which 23 were introduced with bipartisan sponsors.
The national housing crisis has deepened – and it’s also becoming more wide-reaching. Both parties' major presidential candidates focused on it on the campaign trail last fall, and legislators around the country remain concerned.
Shaun Donovan, CEO and president of Enterprise Community Partners, who served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, told Paste BN in December, “There is a political imperative that is much broader than I've ever seen around housing” as nearly every pocket of America, not just pricey coastal cities, becomes unaffordable.
Home prices hit a new all-time high in 2024, with the median at $412,500. Using the traditional lender ratio of 31% debt-to-income, a borrower would need an annual income of at least $126,700 to afford a mortgage payment on a home of that price.
“Many people around the country, frustrated with the way we do American politics, wonder, is there any issue that brings this nation together?” said Senator Scott, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, during the July 29 session. “I’m here to say hallelujah! We have found one. It is housing.”
Industry groups, including the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Realtors, and the Mortgage Bankers Association, released statements in support of the legislation.
But even as advocates cheered the committee’s step, some cautioned that the bill has a long way to go before it becomes law. The House of Representatives will take it up in the fall, noted the Bipartisan Policy analysts, adding, “the bill proposes to enhance many existing federal housing programs and create new ones, but does not uniformly propose funding levels for these changes nor propose offsetting budgetary savings or revenue increases.”