Congress passed the first major housing bill in decades on Tuesday. While it might move the needle on affordability for some Americans, the landmark legislation does not provide enough relief to renters most in need, experts say.
"It's been 30 years since we've done real substantive affordable housing legislation. For many of us, it's the first affordable housing bill in our lifetime," said David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference.
The House overwhelmingly approved the final version of the bill Tuesday. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is the result of months of negotiation between both chambers of Congress. The bill scales back regulations and aligns incentives to encourage more homebuilding, while placing limits on corporate investors who buy up single-family homes to convert to rentals. Though President Donald Trump canceled Wednesday's signing ceremony for the legislation, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects the president to sign it in the coming days.
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Yet most of the provisions in the bipartisan bill "are not targeted at extremely low-income renters," said Libby O'Neill, senior public policy analyst at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The organization supports the bill overall, including many of its individual provisions, but "so much more investment is needed in programs" for the lowest-income renters, she added.
Extremely low-income renters, or those who earn at or below federal poverty guidelines or 30% of their area's median income, have the fewest options for affordable housing, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition report released in March. Nationally, there are 11 million extremely low-income households competing for only 3.8 million rental homes that are available and affordable.
On the whole, the bill strives to increase the U.S. housing supply, which suffered more than a decade of underbuilding after the Great Recession, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies' annual 2026 housing report.
PBS News spoke with housing experts on how the bill can address the needs of lowest-income households and where the legislation falls short.
The federal government sets income thresholds for "low-income," "very low-income" and "extremely low-income" renters, with each group qualifying for different assistance programs.
Most new construction is unaffordable to low-income renters, and even to households making the area's median income, according to Harvard's report.
At the same time, the supply of existing affordable housing is shrinking, the report noted.
The number of units available to rent for less than $1,000 per month, adjusted for inflation, dropped by more than 30% between 2014 and 2024. This meant the stock of low-rent homes was reduced by more than 7 million units, the report found.
Meanwhile, the supply of higher-rent units grew by 46% during that same period, especially homes renting for more than $2,000 per month.
READ MORE: Is the 30% rule for rent still relevant? Here's what experts think
No state in the nation had enough affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters as of 2024, the National Low Income Housing Coalition report found.
Adding to that strain is how much a household's income goes to rent and utilities. Eighty-three percent of renters earning under $30,000 per year in 2024 were cost-burdened, meaning more than 30% of their income went to rent and utilities, while two-thirds — 67% — were severely cost-burdened, or spent at least half their income on rent and utilities, Harvard found.
"That's growing too, which is really a red flag," said Daniel McCue, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Affordable housing is a major concern for Americans right now. A recent poll from the Bipartisan Policy Center found that 79% of voters said housing was an "extremely or very important issue," while 83% said they agreed that "Congress should take action now to make housing more affordable."
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is enormous, containing almost 60 separate provisions largely designed to make it easier to build, buy and rent homes.
While the final bill isn't directly intended for extremely low-income renters, there are some aspects that could be helpful to them, O'Neill said.
One provision — the Choice in Affordable Housing Act — is meant to speed up the Department of Housing and Urban Development inspection processes for homes financed through some federal programs. These units would automatically meet certain inspection requirements if they passed an inspection within the past year.
This would reduce the wait times to move into housing for many low-income renters who rely on government assistance in the form of Housing Choice Vouchers, O'Neill said.
"Sometimes it can take a really long time for them to get into units and so this does some streamlining," she said.
The Reforming Disaster Recovery Act directs federal disaster recovery resources to people with lower incomes. Previous versions of the housing package permanently authorized the funding, but the final text authorizes it for only three years.
Extending HUD's disaster recovery program has been one of the National Low Income Housing Coalition's top priorities "forever," O'Neill said, adding they were "really, really glad" to see it in the final version of the bill. Over the next three years, advocates will push for permanent authorization, she added.
Another provision that could reduce housing costs is the Housing Supply Expansion Act, Dworkin said, which removes a federal requirement that manufactured housing have a permanent chassis, or heavy frame that allows the home to be transportable. Removing the chassis requirement could reduce the cost of each manufactured home by $5,000 to $10,000, according to Niskanen Center, a Washington-based think tank.
"Many manufactured homes are installed on a permanent foundation once they arrive at their destination and are never moved again," and still need to meet a chassis requirement, leading to possible "unnecessary costs," according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
By expanding the definition, manufactured housing components could be brought in separately and put together "like pieces of a puzzle," Dworkin said.
Each individual provision is important to the people's specific situations, but the bill as a whole has a "fairly limited impact on affordability for the lowest-income folks in the country," said Shamus Roller, CEO of the National Housing Law Project.
The bill's provisions aren't the kinds of sweeping policy changes many affordable housing advocates say will help dramatically reduce housing costs, Roller said. Those would include actions like massive tax reform to change how people invest in housing or a major investment by the federal government into subsidized housing programs.
The bill is also geared toward homeowners, not renters, Roller said. There are aspects of the bill that might help low-income homeowners, such as the Whole-Home Repairs Act, a pilot program that will help repair or upgrade eligible aging homes.
But most extremely low-income households are renters, not homeowners, O'Neill said. Only 25% of people who make $25,000 yearly or less own their homes, according to a 2025 report from the Federal Reserve.
Finally, many pieces of the legislation will require implementation from the now-diminished HUD. Just under a third of HUD's employees have left since September 2024, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
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