The US Senate recently passed the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025, the first bipartisan housing legislation to move in over a decade.
The U.S. Senate has advanced the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act of 2025 (Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream to Housing Act). The bill directs the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to work hand-in-hand with housing experts and local governments to identify strategies that boost housing production nationwide. It emphasizes cutting red tape, modernizing zoning and inspection processes, and offering incentives for communities that make it easier to build homes — especially near transit or on underused land. The measure also makes permanent HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program, ensuring more predictable funding for local recovery and housing projects.
For county governments, the Act could unlock new funding streams and technical support, but it also invites a closer look at local regulations. Counties that simplify approval processes, expand by-right housing options, or reduce parking and density limits could qualify for bonus grants or federal partnerships. As federal housing policy increasingly favors jurisdictions that actively enable growth, counties can better position themselves to benefit from the additional resources granted under this bill by aligning local policies with HUD’s forthcoming best-practice guidelines.
Summary of Sections that Directly Impact County Governments:
- Sec. 202 – Increasing Housing in Opportunity Zones – This section enables the HUD Secretary to give added weight to applicants for competitive HUD grants that are located in, or primarily serve, designated Opportunity Zones to support housing preservation and construction.
- Sec. 203 – Housing Supply Frameworks Act – This section directs HUD to develop best practice frameworks for zoning and land-use policies, helping communities identify and overcome barriers to housing development.
- Sec. 206 – Build Now Act – This section creates a pilot program to incentivize housing development of all kinds in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) participating jurisdictions, excluding states.
- Sec. 207 – Better Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development (BUILD) Housing Act – This section cuts red tape around environmental reviews, empowering states, local governments, and Indian tribes to streamline reviews and increase housing development.
- Sec. 208 – Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act – This section right-sizes National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) review for small and infill housing projects, which will simplify the review process and get projects to construction faster.
- Sec. 209 – Innovation Fund – This section creates a competitive pot of highly-flexible funding for communities that are building more housing supply, which can be used to improve community infrastructure, build housing, and supplement water and sewer grants.
- Sec. 210 – Accelerating Home Building Act – This section establishes a HUD-administered grant program to help communities establish preapproved housing designs, or pattern books, to help streamline and expedite local construction processes and build more homes.
- Sec. 501 – Reforming Disaster Recovery Act – This section permanently authorizes the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and establishes the Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency within HUD to administer the program.
- Sec. 506 – Incentivizing Local Solutions to Homelessness – This section allows states and localities that receive Emergency Solutions Grant funding to request a waiver of the statutory 60 percent spending cap on emergency shelter beds and street outreach.
- Sec. 802 – Streamlining Rural Housing Act – This section directs HUD and USDA to coordinate on joint environmental reviews for housing projects funded by both agencies.
