The Bipartisan Housing Bill Is Now Law Without Trump's Signature. Here's What's in It.

Atlanta Home Network · Published July 2026

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law on Saturday, July 10, 2026, after President Trump refused to sign the legislation and the constitutional ten-day waiting period expired. It is the first major piece of federal housing affordability legislation in three decades. The bill passed the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32 in late June.

The first major federal housing bill in 30 years is now law. The president would not put his name on it.

Why Trump didn't sign it

Trump announced his decision in a post on Truth Social, tying the housing bill to a separate piece of legislation he has been pushing.

"I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT," Trump wrote.

The SAVE America Act is a strict voter ID bill that would require proof of citizenship for all voters. It does not have enough support in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Trump called the housing bill "a yawn" and "so unimportant" compared to the voter ID legislation.

The move surprised Republican lawmakers on June 24, when — shortly before a planned signing ceremony at the Capitol — Trump announced he would withhold his approval until lawmakers first passed the voting bill.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said he had urged Trump to sign it. "I hope he does sign it," Johnson told reporters. "If he doesn't, it's still law. We'll still celebrate it." Johnson said he told Trump to "get the fattest black marker you have, and sign your name really big on that."

How a bill becomes law without a signature

Under the Constitution, a bill presented to the president becomes law without his signature if he neither signs nor vetoes it within ten days (excluding Sundays), provided Congress remains in session. If Congress adjourns during that window, the bill dies — a mechanism known as a pocket veto.

Trump had until Friday, July 10, to act. He neither signed nor vetoed the legislation, and Congress remained in session. The bill became law after midnight.

The decision cuts against the administration's own framing of housing affordability as a priority in addressing inflation. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump's priorities were clear: "higher cost for families and more power for himself."

What's actually in the bill

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to lower the cost of housing and spur more home construction. It is the broadest federal effort in decades to address America's housing affordability problems, as state and local regulations have made it difficult to build in many of the communities that are also sources of job growth and economic opportunity. White House economists estimated earlier this year a national shortage of 10 million homes, and the bill is intended to help close a portion of that gap.

The legislation's core provisions include:

  • Grants for local governments that ease zoning restrictions and expand the housing supply
  • Streamlined environmental review processes to make it faster to build homes
  • Reduced construction costs for manufactured homes
  • Restrictions on large corporate investors buying single-family homes
  • Cut federal housing rules and slimmed-down regulatory barriers
  • Housing support for veterans
  • An innovation fund for communities that increase housing supply

The bill passed the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32 — overwhelming bipartisan margins in a midterm election year.

Three programs worth watching

Beyond the headline provisions, the bill includes several smaller programs that housing advocates say could have a meaningful impact over time. Andy Winkler, managing director of housing and infrastructure at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told PBS NewsHour: "One provision is not the silver bullet, but collectively they could have a big impact."

Reforming Disaster Recovery Act

When wildfires tore through Los Angeles in early 2025, they destroyed roughly the same amount of housing that is constructed in a year, according to Noah Patton, director of disaster recovery at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. After a disaster, it can take months or years for federal aid to reach people trying to rebuild.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency generally spends only 18 months in a disaster area providing short-term housing assistance. After that, the only long-term recovery option is HUD's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program — but that program is not permanently authorized. It only exists when Congress approves funds.

The bill's Reforming Disaster Recovery Act would make that program permanent, establish an Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency within HUD, and create a long-term disaster recovery fund. States would be able to pre-plan for long-term recovery knowing how much the fund will distribute.

Whole Homes Repairs Act

The Whole Homes Repairs Act is based on a Pennsylvania state program that uses American Rescue Plan Act funds to help repair low-income housing. It would create a five-year pilot program providing grants and forgivable loans to eligible homeowners and landlords for projects in affordable single-family homes.

Eligible projects include:

  • Accessibility upgrades for individuals with disabilities and older adults, such as ramps, grab bars, and wider doorways
  • Health and safety repairs
  • Energy and water efficiency improvements
  • Weatherization and resilience upgrades

The money would first be awarded to up to 10 implementing organizations — including local governments, states, tribes, or qualified nonprofits — per year over the five-year pilot.

Rural Housing Service Reform Act

The Rural Housing Service Reform Act addresses housing programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which maintains a significant portfolio of rural housing and economic development loans outside its agricultural mission.

The bill includes new financing to keep USDA-financed multi-family housing affordable and a higher cap on USDA-financed loans for homeowners taking on rehab or repair projects. It also decouples affordability from specific housing stock tied to provisions that will soon expire with maturing mortgages. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates the change would keep around 400,000 rural families in their homes.

What the bill does not address

The legislation does not address every cause of the country's housing shortage. Among the factors left out:

  • A shortage of construction workers
  • Climbing insurance costs
  • Wages that have not risen fast enough for renters and buyers

Where the housing market stands

The U.S. housing market has been a driver of recent affordability challenges as skyrocketing prices have kept aspiring buyers out of the market. The National Association of Realtors reported that the median sales price increased 1.8% in June from a year earlier to $440,600 — an all-time high on data going back to 1999.

Broad segments of the housing industry, including associations representing homebuilders, mortgage lenders, multifamily housing owners, and low-income homeowners, applauded the law's passage.

Jeanna Kenney, an assistant professor of economics, finance, and real estate at Villanova School of Business, told Yahoo Finance that most laws governing construction and housing supply are set locally, but the federal incentives for local governments enacting pro-housing policies should ultimately help address the shortage.

"It's exciting to see the federal government trying to play a little bit of a hand in encouraging supply at the local level," Kenney said. "The hope is that this instigates more collaboration across levels of government."

What this means for Atlanta real estate

For metro Atlanta, the bill's most directly relevant provisions are the restrictions on large corporate investors buying single-family homes and the grants for local governments that ease zoning restrictions. Investor activity has been a consistent feature of the Cobb County housing market — investor share fell to 19.9% in May 2026, the lowest level in recent months.

We have covered the path of this legislation as it moved through Congress. The Senate passed the bill 85-5 in late June, with the institutional-investor provision as its centerpiece. Trump then canceled the signing ceremony on June 24, linking the delay to the separate voter ID measure. The bill became law on July 10 without his signature.

Reports like these don't tell any household what to do, and the bill's effects will take time to reach the Atlanta market. But for homeowners and renters watching the cost of housing, it is the most significant federal action on the issue in a generation.

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