The ROAD to Housing Act Is Law. Now Comes Implementation.

On September 9, I attended the Bipartisan Policy Center’s event, “The Housing Bill is Law. Now What?” The discussion examined what implementation of the ROAD to Housing Act will require from federal agencies, Congress, and state and local governments. Speakers included Erin Schroyer of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, Dennis Hsieh of the Bipartisan Policy Center, Sarah Brundage of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, Leslie Gooch of the Manufactured Housing Institute, Jonathan Parowicz of the Housing Assistance Council, and Liz Osborne of Enterprise Community Partners.

On July 11, 2026, the ROAD to Housing Act became law—marking a significant bipartisan step toward expanding housing supply, preserving affordable homes, and modernizing key federal housing programs. But enactment is only the beginning. The law authorizes major reforms, and its impact will depend on federal rulemaking, agency capacity, congressional appropriations, and state and local action.

Implementation will take time

The law contains at least 125 discrete actions for federal agencies, including new rules, guidance, program design, reporting, and administrative changes. Roughly 70 percent of those actions fall to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, though 11 federal agencies have implementation responsibilities.

HUD faces a substantial workload. It must undertake nine new rulemakings under ROAD, while managing its existing regulatory agenda and operating with staffing levels reportedly about 30 percent below those of 18 months ago. A typical major rulemaking can take 18 months to two years, meaning some final rules may not arrive until early 2028.

Funding is another central issue. ROAD authorizes approximately 12 new programs, but it is not itself an appropriations bill. The House FY2027 transportation-housing appropriations measure was drafted before ROAD became law and does not fund its provisions. As a result, many newly authorized programs may not receive funding until FY2028 at the earliest.

Key reforms to watch

Manufactured housing. The law removes the permanent-chassis requirement from the federal definition of manufactured housing. HUD must now establish standards for chassis-free homes, while states and localities will need to update related rules involving zoning, licensing, taxes, lending, and sales. Local exclusionary zoning, financing and insurance barriers, and longstanding stigma remain significant hurdles.

HOME and community development programs. ROAD makes permanent and operational changes to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program intended to simplify administration and support housing production. Anticipated benefits include streamlined environmental reviews, simplified inspections, expanded eligible activities, and a pilot to convert vacant and abandoned buildings into housing.

The law also authorizes the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery program for three years. A more consistent regulatory framework could help disaster-recovery dollars reach affected communities more quickly and equitably than under the previous cycle-by-cycle approach.

Rural housing preservation. For USDA Section 515 multifamily properties, ROAD permanently authorizes the decoupling of rental assistance from underlying mortgages and permanently authorizes the Housing Preservation and Revitalization program. These changes are important as the Section 515 portfolio has declined from more than 500,000 homes historically to roughly 385,000 today.

Private capital for affordable housing. ROAD raises the public welfare investment cap for banks from 15 percent to 20 percent of surplus capital. This change could expand banks’ ability to invest in affordable housing and community development projects, including Low-Income Housing Tax Credit transactions, without requiring new appropriations.

What state and local leaders should do now

State and local governments do not need to wait for every federal action to begin preparing. Priorities include:

• Reviewing zoning and land-use rules, particularly for manufactured housing.

• Identifying opportunities to preserve USDA Section 515 properties as mortgage maturities accelerate.

• Preparing housing-production strategies that could compete for future Innovation Fund and regional planning grants.

• Aligning local resources—including Opportunity Zones, where applicable—with affordable-housing preservation and production pipelines.

• Engaging early in federal rulemaking and guidance processes to help shape workable implementation.

Looking ahead

ROAD is a meaningful start, but it does not resolve every housing affordability challenge. Future policy discussions are likely to focus on appropriating funds for newly authorized programs, expanding rental assistance, supporting extremely low-income households, addressing workforce housing needs, and advancing tools such as the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act.

For public officials, developers, advocates, lenders, and community stakeholders, the immediate task is clear: track implementation closely, engage with federal agencies, and prepare local policies and project pipelines to take advantage of the new opportunities as they become available.