Hill Republicans see urgency in passing housing bill ahead of midterm elections

And the longer the legislative logjam persists, the more it deprives the GOP of a key affordability talking point to present to voters on the campaign trail. The midterm elections are Nov. 3, and polls show Democrats in a strong position to win the House, though that climb has been made steeper by recent adverse court decisions on redistricting and new GOP congressional gerrymanders enacted in state capitals.

Even if the congressional housing legislation fails to lower prices this year, it would still be a legislative achievement Republicans could message on.

“Housing is a big issue, it polls very high, and Republicans do want to say they did something about housing — and passing this bill would give them the opportunity to jawbone the issue,” Brian Darling, a Republican strategist and former Senate aide, told the Washington Examiner.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate are being lobbied hard to address their differences and pass the legislation. For instance, both the president and Vice President JD Vance recently posted about it on social media, calling on the House to pass the Senate’s version of the bill.

But with less than six months left until the public casts its ballots and decides whether Republicans keep control of the House and the Senate, lawmakers aren’t yet able to tell their constituents that they have done anything to help with housing affordability.

“This is an issue that I think that Republicans want to get across the finish line so they can have something to campaign on,” Darling said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) have indicated that they are weighing changes to the Senate bill, which could lead the House to reopen debate over several controversial aspects of the legislation, especially a provision backed by Trump that would ban large institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

GOP leadership plans to move housing legislation ASAP

House Republican leadership is reportedly planning to put an amended version of the Senate’s housing bill on the floor for a vote as soon as mid- to late-May.

But it is unclear how the lower chamber would handle the ban on purchases by institutional investors. It was added to the Senate bill after Trump called for it in his 2026 State of the Union address. The bill also contains language that would require investors in build-to-rent homes to sell those houses within seven years, a requirement that would likely make many such investments uneconomical. Housing experts argue it would decrease the housing stock, and industry groups have come out hard against the proposal.

The National Association of Home Builders, long a supporter of the bipartisan legislation, threatened to withdraw support over the bill’s language. 

Also, in an open letter, a group of prominent housing experts and economists told lawmakers that it would make housing investment uneconomical and amount to a soft ban. They also said it would directly lead to fewer homes being built.

And even if Republicans can coalesce around legislation that can pass and make its way to Trump’s desk, voters likely won’t feel relief directly from the bill in time for the election, Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner.

“Firstly, a lot of the measures take a while before they have an effect,” Lachman said. “That if you change regulations, you get rid of red tape, you make it easier for zoning and all of that, it takes a while before you build the houses. So you’re not going to get short-term relief.”

Still, the affordability problem isn’t going away for Republicans, and any messaging that could help — such as the bipartisan housing legislation — is welcome.

“It’s important for the Republicans to do anything on affordability before the midterms,” Peter Loge, director of the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, told the Washington Examiner.

Polling consistently shows that high inflation and cost-of-living concerns are top considerations for voters heading into the midterm elections.

Recently, the consumer price index showed inflation shot up 0.5 percentage points to 3.8% for the year ending in April. And, the producer price index showed that wholesale inflation exploded to a blistering 6% rate, the biggest increase since 2022.

Andrew Bates, a Democratic strategist and former Biden administration White House spokesman, pointed out low economic approval ratings for Republicans. “This legislation won’t make up for how tariffs and chaos are raising housing costs, but it would be a mistake not to pass a bill that increases housing supply,” Bates told the Washington Examiner. “Unless they’d prefer to talk even more about gas prices and Trump’s ballroom.”