21st Century ROAD to Housing Act

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act creates a comprehensive federal housing initiative spanning multiple titles that address counseling programs, housing supply expansion, affordability measures, and program reforms. The bill modifies housing counseling requirements to include performance reviews of counselors and organizations, establishes federal guidelines for point-access block buildings (single-stairway residential buildings up to six stories), exempts infill housing projects from environmental reviews, requires public databases of government-owned land, and initiates a pilot program for Federal Housing Administration small-dollar mortgages. It also establishes a temperature sensor pilot program in federally assisted rental units, publishes zoning guidelines to support housing production, increases housing in qualified opportunity zones, authorizes whole-home repair grants and loans for low-income homeowners and small landlords, and creates programs to convert vacant buildings into affordable housing and support home building through prereviewed designs.

The bill's provisions would operate through grants and pilot programs administered by HUD and other federal agencies, with funding allocated competitively to states, localities, and nonprofits. Environmental review requirements would be streamlined for certain housing activities, reducing approval timelines. The whole-home repairs program would provide grants to homeowners earning up to 80 percent of area median income and forgivable loans to small landlords who maintain affordable rents for three years. Temperature sensors would be installed in public housing and federally assisted rental units to track compliance with heating requirements, with data collected and evaluated over three years. Zoning guidelines published by HUD would offer states and localities model code language and best practices for regulatory reforms such as reducing parking minimums and eliminating restrictions on accessory dwelling units, though localities would not be required to adopt them. The Innovation Fund would award grants to communities that have demonstrated housing supply growth, and the RESIDE program would fund conversion of warehouses and vacant commercial buildings into attainable housing in economically distressed areas.