US House passes affordable housing bill, sending it to Trump for enactment

The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation on Tuesday that aims to speed the construction and availability of more affordable housing, sending it to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.



The measure passed the Senate on Monday by a vote of 85-5.



"America is facing a housing supply shortage that's been years in the making," House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill of Arkansas, a Republican, said during House debate on the bill.



A majority of American consumers have said, for the first time since 2023, that they would prefer to buy a home rather than rent or move in with family members, according to a survey released on Tuesday.



Hill said the measure would "cut unnecessary barriers to new home construction" and modernize what he said were outdated banking regulations, to facilitate more home loans to lower-income people.



The House voted 358-32 to pass the bill.



Passage of such major legislation in the deeply divided Congress has been rare. Democratic Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut called the bill "a remarkable thing."