The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law at midnight on Saturday, July 11, in a significant win for the housing community. NLHA joined eight housing groups representing thousands of housing providers and millions of residents to congratulate the Members of Congress and the President for the passage and enactment of the amended 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
NLHA COO/Executive Director Denise Muha said, “NLHA applauds all partners as well as lawmakers in both parties who diligently worked together in commitment to finding real solutions to address the national priority of housing affordability by spurring production and preservation.”
Notable provisions in the amended 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act include:
· Increasing bank public welfare investments from 15% to 20% (Section 203).
· Allowing Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the construction of new affordable housing (Section 204).
· Streamlining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process (Section 206).
· Increasing FHA-insured multifamily loan limits (Section 211).
· Lifting the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program cap by 100,000 units and extending protections for tenants in RAD buildings (Section 212).
· Eliminating the permanent chassis requirement for manufactured homes (Section 310).
· Reducing delays in HUD inspections by allowing Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program, and USDA Rural Housing Service units to automatically meet Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) inspection requirements if they have passed an inspection within the past year (Section 405).
· Reauthorizing the HOME program (Section 501).
· Authorizing the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program for three years (Section 504).
· Authorizing a new Moving to Work (MTW) program cohort (Section 505).
· Restricting the purchase of new single-family homes by large institutional investors; providing exemptions, including for large institutional investors seeking to purchase or build new single-family homes specifically for the rental market, and establishing an outreach resource for renters of homes owned by large institutional investors through landlord disputes (Section 1001).
NLHA looks forward to continuing to work with its members, industry partners and policymakers on implementing solutions to build and preserve housing nationwide.