WSJ: This Housing Bill Is Progress, Not Perfection | Chairman French Hill
Washington,
June 2, 2026
This Housing Bill is Progress, Not Perfection
Chairman French Hill (AR-02) June 1, 2026 Your editorial is a sharp critique against the recently passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (“A Bipartisan Housing Fiasco,” May 27). While no compromise in Congress is flawless, the board’s criticism focuses on grievances rather than the meaningful, supply-side reforms that will expand housing construction. The bill modernizes the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s manufactured housing codes for the first time since the 1970s, eliminating the outdated federal permanent chassis mandate. This will reduce costs and unleash factory-built housing at scale. The bill also updates the Housing Department’s HOME Investment Partnership Program, which hasn’t been reauthorized since 1992. This is the largest federal block grant program dedicated exclusively to affordable housing development. This bipartisan compromise cuts through the bureaucracy by exempting projects from duplicative environmental reviews that add immense delays and costs to construction. We also secured critical community banking provisions to strengthen the lenders at the heart of America’s housing market. By modernizing the regulatory treatment of custodial and reciprocal deposits, this bill ensures that community banks retain deposits locally. That means more capital for community banks to finance mortgages and new housing construction. This bill isn’t a silver bullet, but lawmaking is about progress, not perfection. The House-amended 21st Century Road to Housing Act will have a meaningful effect, increasing housing supply across the country. |