On December 16 and 17, 2025, the House Financial Services Committee marked up the Housing for the 21^st Century Act, a package of housing supply reforms. This package came together in response to the Senate Banking Committee’s ROAD to Housing Act package, which passed in the Senate earlier this year but has not been considered in the House.

“This package of housing supply modernizations is a welcome example of bipartisan compromise in a challenging policy environment,” said David Lipsetz, President & CEO of the Housing Assistance Council. “Rural communities need more housing and passing this bill will help. But we would be remiss if we didn’t point out that most of the rural-specific provisions were left out of the House bill.”

The  version passed by the Senate Banking Committee over the summer included HAC’s top policy priority, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) Reform Act (S. 1260 and H.R.4957). This bill would provide the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) with new tools to address the preservation of rural rental housing; authorize successful pilot programs; modernize the single-family housing programs; and improve USDA’s internal infrastructure, technology, and reporting.

While the House removed the key RHS Reform Act provisions for preserving USDA’s flagship multifamily program (Section 515), several other provisions remained that will help rural communities in need:

• Increased Section 504 Loan Limits: Raises the maximum that can be loaned without a mortgage from $7,500 to $15,000 for critical home repairs and expands eligibility to low-income applicants, not just very low-income applicants.
• Annual Rural Housing Report: Requires USDA to publish transparent data on Rural Housing Service program performance.
• Technology Modernization Study: Directs GAO to assess funding needed to modernize outdated USDA systems; current system is about 20 years old.
• 90-Day Processing Goal: Establishes expectations for timely application review and requires reporting on delays.

“Rural housing organizations were disappointed to see USDA Section 515 multifamily preservation left on the cutting room floor during negotiations on the House package. Rural housing markets deserve better,” said Lipsetz. “We are part of a large coalition of national and local partners working to preserve the remaining 385,000 units in this deeply affordable USDA portfolio. Appropriators have started to provide the necessary tools and flexibilities on a pilot basis. Now we need the multifamily provisions of the RHS Reform Act to execute a long-term preservation strategy that keeps these rural families in good quality rental housing.”

Between 2013 and 2023, rural areas experienced only an estimated 1 percent overall increase in their housing stock compared to a 10 percent increase for non-rural areas. Measuring the change in housing units includes two components: 1) new homes – housing units added between 2013 and 2023; and 2) lost stock – the decrease in homes built in earlier periods. This basic analysis reveals that rural areas experienced a relatively minor increase in new homes constructed over the 10-year period. But simultaneously, there was a substantial reduction in the existing rural housing stock. Homes built before 2013 declined by 6.5 percent in rural counties, compared to only a 1.6 percent decline for non-rural areas. To learn more, read HAC’s latest issue of Rural Voices, which is focused on rural housing supply, and read HAC’s comments for the record for the House Financial Services Committee’s recent housing supply hearing.