A bipartisan, Herculean effort by Congress sent the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to the White House with hopes of transformation in the affordable housing sector, but it has hit yet another roadblock.  

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“Today’s housing news conference and signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

The social media post came from President Trump less than two hours before he was scheduled to sign the ROAD Act into law. 

A version of the SAVE act, which is designed to ensure election integrity passed in the House but has spotty support in the Senate.   

If the President doesn’t sign a bill passed by Congress it can still become law in ten days, not counting Sundays. Trump could also veto the bill which could be overridden by a two thirds majority vote. 

Versions of the ROAD bill have been bouncing between the House and Senate for months. 

Prior to Trump’s course change, the major bone of contention was how and if institutional investors would be allowed to develop build-to-rent homes, a small fraction of the housing stock. 

According to the National Council of State Housing Agencies the agreed-upon version passed by the House on Tuesday, “restricts large institutional investors from competing with individual home buyers to purchase single-family homes.” 

“It does not require investors to sell “build-to-rent” or “build-to-renovate” properties within seven years, as had been required in earlier Senate-passed iterations of the bill. Institutional investors who violate the prohibition would be subject to civil penalties of up to $1 million per violation or three times the purchase price of the property.” 

The slew of regulatory provisions included in the ROAD bill unites bankers, the homebuilding industry, both political parties, state, local, and federal governments along with affordable housing advocates. 

“This historic legislation will support affordable investment using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which was recently expanded and remains the primary driver of affordable housing supply in the U.S.,” said Emily Cadik, CEO of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. 

LIHTCs rely on private activity bonds being included in the capital stack that’s typically required to make affordable housing development pencil out. They were expanded in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

The ROAD act takes things a step further by lowering the cap on public welfare investments to 20% from 15%. 

The cap limits how much banks can invest in community development projects, which includes affordable housing. 

A higher cap is expected to pull even more private investment into the affordable housing sector.

The 15% cap has been in place since 2006. When Congress raised the cap to 15% from 10%, national bank PWIs soared to $27.9 billion in 2024 from $3.1 billion in 2005.

“The PWI cap increase would serve as a welcome boost, allowing banks to more effectively leverage the housing credit and increase their investments in affordable housing nationwide,” said Dudley Benoit, president of the AHTCC board of directors and senior managing director at Walker & Dunlop. 

County and city governments are also onboard with ROAD, cheering reforms to the Home Investment Partnerships program, and funding the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery Program. 

“Senate amendments also restored authorization for the CDBG–Disaster Recovery program to be streamlined and funded annually, which will increase certainty and improve delivery of recovery resources to impacted households,” said Kevin Kramer, National League of Cities president and council member of Louisville, Ky.

“This legislation is what an effective intergovernmental partnership looks like,” said Matthew Chase, executive director of the National Association of Counties. 

“Washington providing the tools and flexibility, and counties putting them to work where families actually live.”