Biggest Housing Bill in a Generation Becomes Law

On July 11, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became federal law. According to the House Financial Services Committee, it is the most comprehensive housing legislation Congress has passed in over three decades, and it was championed by Arkansas Congressman French Hill.

The need behind it is real. According to Congressman Hill's office, the average first-time homebuyer in 2019 was 33 years old. Today, that number is 40. Home prices have risen roughly 30 percent since 2019 even after adjusting for inflation, while wages have not kept pace.

So what does this new law may mean for you, the person trying to buy or keep a home in Central Arkansas?

Smaller mortgages may finally get easier to find

Here is a problem our counselors see all the time: the affordable house exists, but the loan does not. According to the Congressional Research Service, lower-priced properties are less likely to be financed with mortgages, and applications for smaller loans are more likely to be denied. In other words, it can be harder to borrow $75,000 than $275,000.

The new law takes this on directly. It authorizes HUD, through the Federal Housing Administration, to establish a pilot program to increase access to small-dollar mortgages, which may include adjusting FHA costs and even providing grants to help borrowers cover certain expenses.

Manufactured housing gets a long-overdue update

For many Arkansas families, manufactured housing is one of the most realistic paths to ownership. The new law updates HUD's manufactured housing code for the first time in decades, eliminates the outdated permanent chassis requirement, and updates FHA lending standards to expand financing access for factory-built homes. It also authorizes HUD's PRICE program for seven years to provide grants that help preserve and stabilize manufactured housing communities.

Good news for small builders too

Not every housing development is a 200-unit complex. The new law exempts small-scale projects, including infill developments and new construction of 15 homes or fewer in certain federal programs, from lengthy federal environmental reviews. For the small builders and nonprofit developers who do so much of the affordable housing work in communities like ours, that means less time waiting on paperwork and more time building. When small projects move faster, neighborhoods get homes sooner.

A fairer shot against big investors

The law restricts institutional investors who own 350 or more single-family homes from purchasing additional single-family properties. If you have ever lost a starter home to an all-cash corporate offer, you know why this matters. As Congressman Hill put it, the goal is to ensure families, not institutional investors, have a fair shot at buying a home.

The law also includes the Whole-Home Repairs Act, aimed at helping homeowners address needed repairs. Keeping people safely in the homes they already have is housing policy too, and it is work our counseling team cares deeply about.

And to be clear, everything covered here is just a small piece of a very big law. The full act contains dozens of provisions touching nearly every corner of the housing system, from appraisals and disaster recovery to veterans housing and rural lending. If you want to dig into the details yourself, the Bipartisan Policy Center has published a plain-language, section-by-section explainer at bipartisanpolicy.org, and the full bill text is available at congress.gov.

Where housing counseling fits in

The very first section of this law, Section 101, is about housing counseling and financial literacy. Congress put counseling at the front of the biggest housing bill in a generation, strengthening HUD's oversight of counseling agencies and counselors nationwide. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle recognize that prepared buyers succeed and unprepared buyers struggle.

That is exactly what we do at In Affordable Housing. As a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, our HUD-certified counselors work with you one on one to get mortgage-ready, and our homebuyer education classes walk you through the entire process, from credit and budgeting to closing day.

None of these programs will knock on your door. You have to be ready when they open. Register for a homebuyer education class or schedule a counseling session today at inaffordablehousingar.org or 501-221-2203