The U.S. House of Representatives has given final approval to a bipartisan housing bill, sending it to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it, a move celebrated by organizations representing landlords and large property owners while the median U.S. monthly rent remains 17.2% higher than before the pandemic. The legislation, which passed the House 358-32 after Senate approval 85-5, is framed as an effort to lower housing costs and increase supply. However, it arrives as the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University reports existing home sales are at three-decade lows and inventories are rising due to high home buying costs, with "cost burdens for both renters and owners continu[ing] to climb, while assistance remains profoundly underfunded."
Who Profits from Scarcity
The bill aims to reduce federal regulations, streamline environmental reviews, and speed up the construction process, measures that primarily benefit developers and large property owners by reducing overhead and accelerating capital turnover. While the legislation purports to curb the influence of corporate landlords by limiting their ability to purchase single-family homes, it notably does not include a Senate provision that would have required investors to sell newly constructed homes within seven years. This omission ensures that the speculative holding of housing as an asset, rather than a social good, remains largely unchallenged. The housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows, yet the underlying crisis of affordability persists. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace going back to 2023, well short of the historical 5.2-million annual norm, indicating a market frozen by high prices and limited access for working people. The Economic Report of the President in April found a shortage of 10 million homes, a deficit that continues to drive up prices and rents, facilitating surplus extraction from the working class.
The State's Role in Managing Crisis
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, a negotiator of the bill, noted that the median age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40 and rents have soared some 47% since the COVID-19 pandemic, stating, “Our country must do better and today we will.” House Financial Services Chairman French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, called it the first time in years Congress has made “measurable, accountable changes” to housing laws, claiming it would “help build more homes to meet that growing demand and keep the American dream within reach.” This bipartisan consensus, forged after months of negotiations combining dozens of bills, serves to manage the contradictions of the housing market without fundamentally altering its structure. The state, through this legislation, offers funding to local governments that build more housing, including Community Development Block Grant money, and provides new dollars for communities to turn abandoned infrastructure into housing. It also offers a framework for communities to reform outdated zoning regulations, which often limit larger housing developments, thereby clearing obstacles for developers. These measures, while presented as solutions, primarily function to stabilize the market for capital while offering limited, incremental relief to those most affected by the housing crisis.
Limits of Reform
The bill includes provisions to expand financing, encourage the development of “innovative housing” like modular homes, require new renter protections, and enhance programs that aim to end homelessness. It also raises limits on the number of public housing units that can receive financing for renovations and codifies a recovery program to help expedite funds to communities rebuilding after disaster. Despite these inclusions, the core mechanism of housing as a commodity for profit remains intact. The median U.S. monthly rent, while declining for nearly three years, was still 17.2% higher in May than it was before the pandemic, demonstrating the enduring burden on renters. The legislation's widespread support from both landlord organizations and groups advocating for tenants highlights its nature as a compromise that does not challenge the fundamental power dynamics of the housing market, but rather seeks to make the existing system more palatable. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., underscored this by stating, “In this polarized and angry Congress, we are actually getting something done,” implying that any action, however limited, is a victory within the established political framework.