Trump withholds signature on housing bill as midnight deadline looms
A housing bill with deep industry support
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32, reflecting rare bipartisan agreement on an issue that has shadowed American housing policy for years.
The legislation bundles more than 50 provisions targeting housing supply, construction barriers, large institutional investor activity in the single-family market, and financing access, including a pilot program for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages under $100,000.
The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that the national median home sales price rose 1.8% year over year in June 2026 to $440,600, an all-time high in data going back to 1999. White House economists estimated earlier this year a shortage of 10 million homes nationally.
A new LendingTree study on starter home affordability published this week found that only 38% of non-homeowner households in the US can afford the average $200,000 starter home, deepening the urgency many in the industry attach to the bill’s fate.
What happens next
Under constitutional rules governing presidential action, a bill becomes law automatically after 10 days — excluding Sundays — if the president neither signs nor vetoes it while Congress remains in session.
