Bipartisan home affordability bill passes the House

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

May 20, 2026 1:37 PM ET


Republicans and Democrats in the House voted Wednesday to pass a bill to address the nation's housing affordability crisis. It encourages homebuilding across the country and would ban corporate landlords from buying up more than 350 houses.

The bill passed 396 to 13, and is an amended version of one passed by the Senate two months earlier. The two chambers still have to agree on a single version before they can send it to the president for his signature.

Both parties are eager to show they are taking legislative action ahead of the midterms to deal with the country's housing crisis. A shortage of homes has driven up prices to an average of $400,000, well outside the range of what many Americans can afford. Just getting more homes into the market faster would help ease the shortage, with Realtor.com estimating there's a 4 million unit gap between available housing and the demand.

If passed, this would be the largest piece of housing legislation in decades.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/20/nx-s1-5827166/house-passes-housing-affordability-bill

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Roll Call - https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026176?Page=2 (the Nays were all-GOP)

H.Res.1299 - 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

[JBTaurus83]

1. A bit late to the game

Private equity has already bought up a significant chunk of the housing.

[GB_RN]

2. A Few Years Back...

60 Minutes had a segment on the scumbags paying cash for homes, which locks out individual buyers. Then they upgrade everything in the house causing the tax value of this house to spike…and subsequently, the tax value of everyone else. This has the effect of forcing out other people in the neighborhood because they can’t afford the new taxes. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and then they only RENT the house(s) out. Not sell.

At the end of the segment, Leslie Stahl was interviewing the head of the largest of these corporate landlords and asks if he is making home ownership a more expensive. This asshole responds that he feels he is making home ownership more affordable! To make that worse, there was NO pushback by Stahl. None! I’m sitting there, just incredulous.

That night, I lost a lot of respect for Stahl, and by extension, 60 Minutes.

[Biglinda 52]

3. Not an impressive bill....

One landlord can still own 350 homes?? That could pretty much control some smaller towns.

[JBTaurus83]

4. It's a "do nothing" bill

The type politicians love to slap their name on.

[mwmisses4289]

5. And is it 350 total homes in the u.s. and its territories,

Or 350 in each state and territory? Big difference, isn't?

[ToxMarz]

6. And how do they define "one" corporate landlord

Private equity can create 1000 corporations instead of one, each owning 350 houses? There is so many ways to cheat any of that.

[Karasu]

7. This is just to make them feel like they're accomplishing something. What kind of fucking stupid arbitrary

number is 350? Where the hell did they come up with that in this transparent attempt to seem “moderate”, so as not to rock the boat too much?

Not to mention that corporations in this country have a million ways to get around this shit.