It’s a rare thing for everyone in Washington to agree on anything these days, but it’s undeniable that the cost of housing has become untenable. Homeownership is considered out of reach for millions of Americans, with renters increasingly being priced out of major cities. To paraphrase a sage from over two decades ago: The rent and mortgages alike are too damn high around the country.

For the last several months, a bipartisan push has been underway in Congress to change that — with full backing from the White House. The Senate passed a bill in March that President Donald Trump has urged the House to pass without changes. But the one thing that could potentially grind the whole process to a halt is a divide over how much to rein in corporate investors buying up housing stock. It’s a gap that will have to be bridged before a new construction boom can begin to finally relieve the pressure that’s been building on renters and owners alike for years.

Trump’s been narrowly focused on the demand side of the housing market, looking for ways to help potential homeowners borrow and otherwise finance their purchases. As with many of his supposed priorities, though, there’s been more posting than action from the White House on the housing front. (According to Punchbowl News, the president also reportedly told Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in March that “nobody gives a [bleep] about housing,” though the White House has denied this account.)

That’s left it up to Congress, where legislators have been focused on the supply side of the equation, hoping to address a nationwide shortfall of available housing units. According to an analysis from Goldman Sachs last year, it could take three to four million new homes to address the affordability crisis that’s only gotten worse since the pandemic, as home prices have gone up far faster than wages.

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The Senate’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act comes courtesy of two senators that aren’t often on the same side of an issue: Tim Scott of South Carolina and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The pair are, respectively, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and have been working on this bill in various forms for almost a year. The latest version — pieced together from a bill the two crafted last year along with another housing bill that the House approved — would cut red tape on new housing construction, increase production of manufactured homes and renovate older houses that are at risk of falling apart.

Hayes Brown

Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He focuses on politics and policymaking at the federal level, including Congress and the White House.