Bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Becomes Law Without Trump’s Signature

A major bipartisan housing package became law Saturday without President Donald Trump’s signature, putting into effect a broad federal effort to expand housing supply and ease costs at a time when affordability remains a central economic concern for many Americans.

The measure, H.R. 6644, is titled the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.” It was presented to the White House on June 29. Under the Constitution, a president has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto a bill. If the president takes no action and Congress remains in session, the bill becomes law automatically. That is what happened here, with the law taking effect at the start of Saturday, July 11.

Trump had said publicly that he would not sign the bill as a protest over Senate inaction on a separate elections measure, the SAVE America Act. In a Truth Social post, Trump said: “I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT..."

Even so, the housing bill cleared Congress with wide bipartisan support. The Senate passed it 85-5 on June 22, and the House approved it 358-32 on June 23. Those margins exceeded the two-thirds threshold that would have been needed to override a veto.

The law is aimed at increasing the supply of homes, especially lower-cost and affordable housing, through a mix of regulatory changes, pilot programs and federal incentives. Lawmakers and major news outlets had described it as one of the most significant federal housing packages in decades.

Among its higher-profile provisions are steps to streamline some regulatory and environmental review processes for housing development, a change supporters say could help projects move more quickly. The law also creates a pilot program to convert vacant commercial buildings into affordable housing, reflecting the large amount of underused office and retail space in some communities.

It also expands federal support for factory-built and manufactured housing, including by removing an outdated chassis requirement for certain manufactured homes. Supporters have argued that manufactured housing can offer a lower-cost path to homeownership and rental development if federal rules better match current building methods.

Other provisions include an innovation fund and pilot programs for communities that increase housing supply, as well as limits on purchases of existing single-family homes by large institutional investors. Those measures target two persistent complaints in the housing market: too little construction in high-demand areas and growing concern that large investors are competing with individual buyers for homes.

The package was driven by senior lawmakers from both parties, including Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Republican chair of the Senate Banking Committee; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the committee’s top Democrat; and House Financial Services Committee leaders Rep. J. French Hill, R-Ark., and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

The enrolled bill is dated June 25 in the official GovInfo record. With the measure now in effect, attention shifts from Congress to implementation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies. Some parts of the law, especially pilot programs and new initiatives, may still depend on later appropriations or agency rulemaking before they are fully carried out.