Bipartisan House Caucus Unveils Housing Agenda Targeting Zoning, Building Costs and Financing

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A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is pushing a new housing agenda built around a simple premise: Washington should use federal policy to make it easier to build more homes, reduce construction costs and expand access to housing finance.

The 40-member Build America Caucus announced its national agenda Oct. 5, months after the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law. The broader 95-page agenda spans housing, infrastructure, energy, health care, workforce policy and technology, but its housing proposals are unusually concrete for a caucus blueprint.

They fall into three broad categories: allowing more housing to be built in more places, reducing the cost and time required to build it, and expanding financing options for housing production and ownership.

None of the agenda’s housing proposals is law merely because the caucus endorsed it. Some would require new federal legislation, some would depend on federal agencies, and others are structured as incentives for state and local governments. But the package is significant because it offers an early map of where a bipartisan follow-on housing effort could go after Congress enacted the ROAD to Housing law this summer.

Federal incentives for local zoning reform

The caucus wants the federal government to encourage state and local governments to allow more housing by right, particularly in areas where restrictive zoning or discretionary approvals constrain production.

The agenda also points toward transit-oriented development and greater reuse of underutilized federal property for housing. Those ideas put Washington in an indirect role: land-use authority would generally remain local, but federal funding and property policy could be used to reward jurisdictions that make room for more homes.

That approach reflects a recurring problem in national housing policy. Congress can influence mortgage markets, tax policy and federal land, but many of the rules that determine whether a home can actually be built — zoning, density, parking, setbacks and permitting — are controlled locally.

Construction costs move to the center of the debate

The caucus is also targeting the cost side of the housing shortage. Its agenda calls for modernizing fragmented building codes and making it easier to use new materials and construction methods when they meet equivalent safety standards.

Another proposal would provide targeted relief from tariffs on residential construction materials and exempt certain affordable-housing projects from Build America, Buy America requirements. Those ideas are likely to draw scrutiny because domestic-content rules and tariffs serve policy goals beyond housing, including support for U.S. manufacturing.

The housing argument is that those policies can also raise the delivered cost of a home. HousingWire’s review of the caucus agenda notes estimates that tariffs on imported steel, lumber, aluminum and equipment can add nearly $11,000 to the cost of constructing a single-family home.

That debate arrives while builders are already reporting pressure from financing, materials and labor. The National Association of Home Builders said its September confidence index fell to 32, with higher interest rates and costs weighing on the market.

FHA modernization and new financing tools

The agenda also reaches into housing finance. Proposals include modernizing Federal Housing Administration programs and expanding financing tools for accessory dwelling units, a form of smaller-scale infill housing that many states and cities have tried to encourage.

Financing matters because legalizing a housing type does not guarantee it will be built. ADUs and other small projects can fall between conventional consumer mortgage products and larger commercial-development financing, leaving otherwise feasible projects without an efficient source of capital.

The caucus’s framework appears designed to address both sides of that equation: remove regulatory barriers to production and improve the financing channels available once a project is permitted.

What changed after the ROAD to Housing Act

The timing is notable. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law July 11, creating a broad set of housing-policy changes that are now moving into implementation. The Build America agenda is not an amendment to that law and should not be described as “ROAD 2.0” legislation at this stage.

Instead, it is a caucus policy platform that could supply pieces of future bills. Some proposals echo ideas that did not make it into the final ROAD package; others extend into zoning, materials and local development rules that remain central obstacles to adding supply.

For housing professionals, the practical question is what advances from a 95-page agenda into actual legislative text. The areas to watch are federal incentives tied to zoning reform, construction-material cost relief, FHA program changes, ADU financing and federal-property reuse.

The caucus has bipartisan membership, which gives the agenda a different starting point than a single-party wish list. That does not guarantee enactment. Housing proposals can fracture quickly over federalism, spending, labor standards, tariffs, environmental review and the appropriate role of Washington in local land use.

But the package is another sign that housing supply has moved from a niche policy concern into the center of the congressional affordability debate. After one major housing law in 2026, lawmakers are already sketching what the next round could include.