Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts speaks to members of the media in the Senate Subway at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Senate is scheduled to vote on Monday to pass a bipartisan affordable housing bill that would limit the number of single-family homes big investors can buy, after months of debate across both chambers.
The vote came after lawmakers last week reached agreement on a bill aimed at increasing the supply of housing while limiting private equity’s influence on the housing market. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill later this week.
“America is facing a housing crisis, and it is long past time for Congress to act,” bill sponsor Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., posted on X on Sunday. “The bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act will increase our housing supply, stop private equity from buying up single-family homes, and lower costs.”
The bill aims to increase housing affordability as both parties tout efforts to reduce the cost of living ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when Republicans hope to preserve their slim majorities in both chambers. President Donald Trump has expressed support for the bill.
But the bill barely got off the ground as Republicans fought over provisions restricting institutional investors and the House and Senate negotiated different versions of the proposal. Lawmakers last week struck a middle ground between the House version, which is said to be more Wall Street-friendly, and the Senate version, which includes tighter regulation of institutional investors.
One problem with previous iterations was requiring investors with more than 350 units to sell any new units built above that cap within seven years. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle worried that such restrictions would curb new housing construction.
The final version of the bill, which the Senate is expected to vote on Monday afternoon, will keep the 350-unit sales cap in place but remove the seven-year sell-off clause.
“The United States faces a housing deficit of more than 4.7 million units, and expanding supply remains the most effective and sustainable way to improve affordability, support workforce mobility, and strengthen local economies,” Neil Bradley, executive vice president, chief policy officer and strategic advocacy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement last week.
“This supply-focused package will encourage housing development by modernizing federal housing programs, reducing regulatory barriers, preserving residential and multifamily rental housing options, increasing paths to homeownership, and spurring much-needed investment and new construction,” Bradley said.
The policy was led by the top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, Sens. Tim Scott (R.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and the top Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee, Reps. French Hill (R-Arkansas) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
It would also ease some regulations to allow new housing construction, tie Community Development Block Grant funds to increasing the supply of housing in communities, and create a pilot program to award grants to redevelop vacant properties into housing.
“Never before has Congress put limits on private equity’s ability to go into any industry they want, buy up what they want and destroy what they want,” Warren told CNBC in a brief interview in the hallways of the Capitol. “This bill is historic because it says a big, big ‘no’ to the growth of private equity that is tearing apart our neighborhoods.”
—Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.
