Neal: Housing Act Offers Opportunities for Homebuyers
CHARLEMONT, Mass. — The critical need for affordable housing has been widely recognized nationally and a recent bipartisan housing package aims to help address that.
The 1st Century Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act was introduced to the House in December 2025, passed on to the Senate in February 2026, and underwent more than 100 amendments during that time.
Now, it's sitting on President Donald Trump's desk waiting to be signed. The act was presented to the president on June 29, but has yet to be signed, as he's calling for his elections bill, the SAVE Act, to be passed.
It's surprising that the president said he is unlikely to sign the legislation within the 10-day interval despite the measure overwhelmingly passing by the House and Senate with both Democratic and Republican help, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal told iBerkshires.
According to the Constitution, the president has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto a bill passed by Congress. If he does not sign the bill within that time it automatically becomes law unless Congress adjourns while the bill is awaiting signature. This is sometimes referred to as a "pocket veto."
"We're in that countdown now. So, I would predict it's likely to become law without the president's signature," Neal said while visiting Charlemont Fire Department on Tuesday for the presentation of its new fire truck purchased with $599,000 in federal funding.
There are two big parts behind this act — build more housing and "stop private equity from mowing through our neighborhoods and buying up all the houses that should go to homeowners," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said during a press conference two weeks ago.
"Housing is for families, not a Wall Street investment. We have that in this bill. It's remarkable that we made it this far and got something so good."
According to the Healey-Driscoll administration's "A Home for Everyone: A Comprehensive Housing Plan for Massachusetts" found that more than 220,000 homes must be built in the next decade to meet housing needs.
"We've got a problem with affordable housing, largely because of the fact that demand has outpaced supply," Neal said.
There will need to be significant discussions about the local zoning regulations necessary to support new housing development, he said.
Movement will likely be seen once 15- and 30-year mortgage rates fall below 5 percent; currently, they remain elevated at roughly 6-6.5 percent, Neal said.
The act will help increase supply and make a more expeditious opportunity to get through some of the permitting process, which makes a big difference, he said.
"I hope that it will provide some opportunities for people to get into the housing market. I think that there are few decisions that are more important at the local level than people being able to buy a home," Neal said.
Eventually, homeowners see it as their retirement plan, and for young buyers, they tend to purchase a starter home then go on to look for their next home, he said.
Many of the provisions in the measure are similar to the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act of 2025, however there are notable differences in some sections.
"I do think that it will drive up the opportunity for people to find more affordable housing, and I think that again it's a much more complicated issue than just a price, but not to miss the point that there is a significant demand for thousands of new houses," he said.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act contains six titles comprising 38 sections to address several housing policy and banking topics including:
Title 1: Building Smarter for the 21st Century, which seeks to publish land-use policy guidelines and best practices, including for single-stair reform, establish a grant program for home building pattern books, adjust and streamline certain environmental review processes, adjust Federal Housing Administration multifamily loan limits and require a Government Accountability Office study of workforce housing.
Title 2: Modernizing Local Development and Rural Housing Programs, focuses on updating several existing federal housing programs including the HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Community Development Block Grant, to make it easier for states and local governments to use funds. A section in this title also creates a new competitive grant pilot program to assist planning and implementation activities associated with affordable housing.
Title 3: Manufactured Housing Innovations, contains three sections surrounding manufactured housing which is a more affordable alternative than site-built housing, because of the smaller home sizes and lower costs per square foot. The section amends the definition of a manufactured home so it could be built with or without a permanent steel chassis and requires the state Housing and Urban Development to create new construction and safety standards for manufactured homes built without a permanent chassis.
Title 4: Protecting Borrowers and Assisted Families, contains eight sections that pull from a number of bills. It excludes veterans' disability benefits when determining eligibility for certain housing programs, adds information about veteran affairs home loan eligibility to mortgage applications, and improves coordination among federal housing agencies. It also creates a Family Self-Sufficiency pilot program, updates HUD's housing counseling services, establishes an eviction helpline grant program, launches a temperature sensor pilot program in public and assisted housing, and require studies on housing for older adults and people with disabilities, housing near Superfund sites, and heirs' property.
Title 5: Enhancing Oversight of Housing Providers, contains two sections that concern congressional oversight of federal housing officials and Public Housing Agencies. It requires the HUD Secretary to testify annually before the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee and increases accountability for public housing agencies by requiring those under federal monitors or receivers to notify HUD and provide annual reports to Congress on their progress, unresolved issues, and oversight activities. It also requires public housing agencies to publicly post all contracts on their websites to improve transparency.
Title 6: Strengthening Community Banks' Role in Housing, contains 13 sections that focus on banking regulations intended to improve community banks' ability to support local lending.
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