A group of 28 affordable housing leaders and housing industry trade organizations, including the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders, the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors, sent a letter on Sept. 2 to urge Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Minority Leader Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to bring the ROAD to Housing Act to the floor for full consideration.

The ROAD to Housing Act — sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ranking Member Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — includes many provisions that address diverse housing needs that help communities overcome zoning barriers, removes barriers to homebuyers obtaining smaller mortgages, updates rules and financing for manufactured homes and permanently authorizes disaster recover efforts.

In the letter, the ROAD to Housing Act was described as “one of the most impactful housing proposals in over a decade … which seeks to expand and preserve housing supply, improve housing affordability and access, advance accountability and fiscal responsibility and improve oversight and program integrity.”

The letter listed priority provisions within the act, including HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act, Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, Rural Housing Service Reform Act, PRICE Act, Build Now Act, Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act, Build More Housing Near Transit Act, Housing Supply Frameworks Act and Property Improvement and Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act.

The Trump administrated enacted a “significant expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit” earlier this year, the letter stated. “Congress has an opportunity to build on that progress and demonstrate its leadership, commitment to the American people, and ability to get important work done. … There are few issues that touch every community and individual as deeply as housing.”