The House of Representatives passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in a 358-32 vote on June 23, 2026, one day after the Senate approved it 85-5. The bill aims to address housing affordability through deregulation and manufacturing reforms, but also includes controversial restrictions on institutional investors buying single-family homes. According to a new analysis by economist John Phelan at the Center of the American Experiment, the legislation attempts to fix problems largely created by government regulations that now account for 26.4% of a new home's price.
A new study from the National Association of Home Builders finds that regulations imposed by federal, state, and local governments account for 26.4% of the final price of a new single-family home. Applied to the average sales price of a new home in January, the regulatory burden totals approximately $131,734 per house. In the early 1970s, by some accounts a majority of new homes were factory-built, but that number has declined dramatically as regulations increased. Institutional investors currently own only a tiny fraction of all single-family homes in the United States.
The report describes the bill's positive provisions as focused on removing government obstacles. The bill would streamline NEPA environmental review for federally supported housing by expanding categorical exclusions, since federal environmental review "does impose real costs and delays on housing construction." The legislation would also deregulate manufactured housing by eliminating the permanent chassis requirement and creating a uniform national construction and safety standard. According to economist Alex Tabarrok, quoted in the analysis, "Long-run productivity growth in housing almost certainly requires greater use of factory construction."
However, the bill includes Section 901, titled "Homes are for People, Not Corporations," which restricts large institutional investors from purchasing new single-family homes. The provision was driven almost entirely by President Trump through an executive order that cuts off institutional home investors from FHA insurance, VA guarantees, USDA backing, and Fannie/Freddie securitization. The bill goes further by imposing a seven-year mandatory divestiture rule that forces institutional investors to convert rental homes to owner-occupied units. The report argues this approach misdiagnoses the housing affordability problem, noting that when foreclosures surged after 2008 and traditional buyers disappeared, institutional investors stepped in and absorbed distressed supply, helping stabilize markets. The analysis questions who will play that role in the next crisis.
The report concludes that government actions remain the primary driver of housing unaffordability, not institutional investors. By focusing on corporate ownership rather than addressing the $131,734 regulatory burden per home, policymakers are letting the real culprits off the hook. The bill's beneficial provisions all involve government getting out of the way or stopping certain actions, which the report presents as evidence that government intervention itself created the affordability crisis it now claims to solve.