CREF Policy Update: Senate Continues Consideration of Housing Package –Including Single-Family Rental Investor Ban
Senate Continues Consideration of Housing Package – Including Single-Family Rental Investor Ban
Last week, the full Senate continued its work to advance an evolving version of a bipartisan housing affordability package – while Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) continued their efforts to nail down final legislative text. The two votes taken last week (with margins of 84-6 and 90-8, respectively) mark the first of several procedural steps required before a floor vote on final Senate passage.
• The updated legislation, now called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, seeks to combine the bulk of the Senate’s ROAD to Housing Act – which was cleared unanimously by the Senate Banking Committee last summer – with elements of the recently (Feb. 9) House-passed H.R. 6644, the Housing for the 21st Century Act of 2025. The legislation includes 36 provisions from the Senate’s initial bill – many shared with H.R. 6644 – along with a provision limiting institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
• Read an initial substitute version of the bill text here, and a section-by-section of that initial substitute here.
Why it matters: MBA remains supportive of numerous provisions in the package that seek to expand and preserve housing supply, improve affordability and access, and bolster the oversight of major federal housing programs.
• However, MBA and other housing trade groups have serious concerns about Section 901 (see joint trades letter), which would preclude firms owning more than 350 units from purchasing additional units. There are carve-outs for certain types of build-to-rent transactions, but with a requirement to dispose of those holdings after seven years, and with existing previously built-to-rent properties not explicitly excepted. The definition of “single-family home” could be read to include townhomes and other attached units. As currently drafted, the provision would constrain capital for rental housing – especially for build- and built-to-rent housing communities.
• And, on March 10, MBA and a number of other organizations sent a letter urging changes to section 901. See it here.
• MBA is also concerned about apparent drafting errors to Section 213 of the package – the provision designed to raise statutory Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily loan limits for the first time since 2003.
• MBA has been extremely active and has stressed several key points regarding the investor ban for weeks, namely that any final legislation should avoid: inadvertently scoping in properties that have traditionally operated as multifamily rental communities, undermining housing supply and affordability by constraining capital for rental housing, limiting build-to-rent communities, and restricting mortgage servicers’ ability to acquire and dispose of REO properties—activities essential to maintaining housing supply and neighborhood stability.
What’s next: The White House and the Treasury Department have urged Congress to pass this bicameral housing package – with the institutional single-family rental investor ban included – as soon as possible. MBA remains engaged with the Administration and lawmakers in both chambers of Congress – and on both sides of the political aisle – on key elements of the housing package, including requesting changes to the bill text to exempt Build-to-Rent housing (including existing units) and ensure the FHA multifamily loan limits are appropriately increased, in order to help ensure capital is not restricted from financing the much-needed expansion of housing supply.
For more information, please contact Bill Killmer at (202) 557-2736, Rachel Kelley at (202) 557-2816, George Rogers at (202) 557-2797, and Jeremy Green at (202) 557-2849.
Upcoming MBA CREF Council and Committee Meetings
MBA’s CREF Councils and Committees are a key way to connect to everything MBA has to offer around policy, advocacy, market intelligence and research, education, and networking. Councils and Committees are built around specific capital sources and serve as an opportunity for you to join other commercial real estate finance professionals to hear from experts, discuss opportunities and challenges, and connect with peers.
Upcoming virtual meetings include:
• FHA Council: March 17
• Structured Finance Council: March 18
• Servicer Council: March 19
• Bank Council: March 25
• Life Company Council: April 9
• Private Credit Finance: April 23
• Commercial Council: April 29
For more information, click on the links above and/or contact Kelli Burke at (202) 557- 2742.
Upcoming MBA Education Webinars on Critical Industry Issues
MBA Education continues to deliver timely commercial/multifamily and single-family programming that covers the spectrum of challenges, opportunities, obstacles and solutions pertaining to our industry. Below, please see a list of upcoming and recent webinars – all complimentary to MBA members:
• Builder’s Risk Insurance Essentials for Commercial & Multifamily Properties – March 18
• Data & System Privacy in an AI World – April 2
• Introduction to Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities – April 8
• Basics of Commercial Loan Closing and Loan Documentation – May 12
MBA members can register for any of the above events and view recent webinar recordings by clicking here.
For more information, please contact David Upbin at (202) 557-2931.
