A Rare Housing Consensus Faces Its November Test
A Bipartisan Breakthrough Three Decades in the Making
For one brief season, housing united Washington. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a sweeping package spanning disaster recovery, rural housing, homelessness, manufactured housing and supply-side reform, became law on July 11 with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. The National Low Income Housing Coalition called it the first major bipartisan housing package to become law since the 1990s, a 59-provision bundle years in the making.
A Refused Signature and a Voter-ID Demand Crack the Facade
The consensus cracked at the president's desk. President Trump declined to sign the bill, letting it become law without his signature, reportedly because he wanted Congress to first pass his priority on national voter-ID requirements, the SAVE America Act. The episode signaled that the executive branch's enthusiasm for implementing the law cannot be taken for granted — and that housing could quickly become a partisan bargaining chip again.
Four States, Six Ballot Measures: A 20-Year High
While Washington celebrates, the states are running their own experiments. Voters in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will decide six housing measures in November — the most in a single election year in at least two decades, per Ballotpedia. Three were referred by legislatures, three are citizen initiatives, and most target the same barriers Congress tackled: land use, zoning and permitting. California's Proposition 1 would sell $11.25 billion in general obligation bonds — $10 billion for housing programs plus $1.25 billion for veterans' home loans — subsidizing up to 40,000 multifamily rental units, per the Legislative Analyst's Office. Proposition 37 would let the state housing finance agency issue up to $25 billion in revenue bonds for down-payment loans covering up to 17 percent of the price for buyers resident at least a year, earning under 200 percent of area median income, with at least 3 percent down. Rhode Island would authorize $120 million in housing bonds, at least $25 million for homeownership production and up to $10 million for public housing — two years after voters approved a like-sized $120 million bond with 65 percent support. Massachusetts would allow single-family homes on 5,000-square-foot lots with 50 feet of frontage and public water and sewer, where many towns now demand 40,000 square feet or more.
