Will there be a “great housing reset”?
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Housing First
16 min read
The article mentions HUD's proposed shift away from the 'housing-first model' for homeless services. Understanding the origins, evidence base, and policy debates around Housing First provides crucial context for evaluating these federal policy changes.
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Exclusionary zoning
10 min read
The article repeatedly references zoning reform battles across California and Connecticut, including YIMBY advocacy and local resistance. Understanding the history of exclusionary zoning in America explains why these reforms are so contentious and why the Northeast 'lags' on reform.
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Manufactured housing
13 min read
The ROAD to Housing Act and congressional hearings specifically address manufactured and modular homes as supply-side solutions. Readers would benefit from understanding the regulatory history, cost advantages, and stigma surrounding manufactured housing in America.
Next year promises a subtle shift in the housing market. Forecasts suggest wage growth may finally outpace home-price gains, offering tentative breathing room for prospective buyers. Yet across the country, affordability pressures persist, local governments experiment with zoning and funding tools, and vulnerable households face heightened risks amid evictions, climate threats, and inadequate supply. From national trends to city-level initiatives, here’s a snapshot of what’s shaping U.S. housing as 2026 approaches.
ROAD to Housing Act hits a dead end
The House of Representatives stripped the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act from the National Defense Authorization Act, dashing what many had called the most significant federal housing-reform package in a decade. The act — which passed the Senate Banking Committee unanimously — would have cut zoning and regulatory red tape, boosted financing for manufactured and modular homes, expanded rental assistance, and raised the cap on banks’ public-welfare investments. With its removal, a broad slate of supply-side reforms and affordability tools are now delayed. Supporters are vowing to press forward in 2026.
At the same time, the House wants to show it is not indifferent to supply-side housing concerns. The Financial Services Committee last week held a hearing titled “Building Capacity: Reducing Government Roadblocks to Housing Supply,” in which committee members reviewed roughly 40 bipartisan bills and proposals that aim to encourage housing production.
Topics ranged from easing rules for manufactured and modular homes to streamlining rural housing programs and construction financing reviews. The session signals a renewed congressional focus on supply-side reforms, with more hearings and targeted bills expected as lawmakers seek actionable fixes.
Elsewhere in the federal government, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has pulled back sweeping proposed changes to its $3 billion Continuum of Care grant program, which I wrote about last week, after lawsuits from states, cities, and nonprofit groups were filed. The original revisions would have sharply restricted how much funding could support permanent housing, shifted the program away from its long‑standing housing‑first model, and barred grants to organizations focused on transgender communities. Critics warned that these moves could jeopardize the homes of tens of thousands of people, and cities began to evaluate how they could adjust their own budgets and programs to support vulnerable residents. Facing legal
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