After so much advocacy work by so many over decades, our federal lawmakers and the Administration have recognized the importance of enacting new housing legislation to help Americans have more freedom to choose from a variety of safe, affordable housing options where they can build their best lives.
Recognizing that solving our housing affordability crisis is important to voters in this election year, Congress, with the support of the White House, has passed two pieces of housing legislation for the first time in decades—the initial ROAD to Housing Act in the Senate and the Housing for the 21st Century Act in the House of Representatives.
Although we applaud lawmakers for making a long-overdue effort to expand housing opportunity for Americans a top priority, as of this writing, the newly proposed Senate legislation, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, would reduce housing supply and choice by decimating one important segment of the rental housing market—Build-to-Rent (BTR) communities, thereby undermining the very goals the legislation seeks to achieve.
The organization I lead, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), has long partnered with the National Housing Conference (NHC) and other national housing organizations to consistently support policies that expand all types of housing supply from rental housing to for-sale, single-family homes, duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and everything in between—we need all of it!
BTR communities, where households can choose to rent a single-family home, are an increasingly important choice for many Americans. They offer more space and flexibility in a neighborhood setting for households who are not ready, not able or not interested in purchasing a home. BTR serves families seeking stability, retirees looking to downsize without leaving their communities and young people building careers and savings. These are “horizontal apartment communities” that are built and financed to give renters a different housing option.
The provision affecting BTR was added at the last minute and lacks the careful consideration such a significant policy change requires. If left unchanged, it risks undermining the bill’s goal of expanding housing availability to the potential tune of several hundred thousand units over the next decade. We are committed to working with lawmakers to restore the bill’s original pro-supply intent so it can help deliver the additional housing Americans urgently need. We are calling for the Senate to exempt BTR from its investor ban proposal.
BTR housing plays an important role in meeting the needs of American households. In 2025 alone, BTR units added nearly 47,000 homes to the nation’s housing stock, according to Yardi Matrix. At a time when the United States faces a severe and well-documented housing shortage, restricting this supply would move the country in the wrong direction.
As written, this legislation could worsen housing affordability by limiting options for Americans in search of a home. This language undermines BTR by requiring the sale of most housing units after seven years.
Because BTR communities require significant capital, investors would be unlikely to commit to new development given the risk of a forced sale. Imposing an arbitrary timeline for disposition would introduce significant uncertainty and likely chill investment in new housing production.
The policy could also displace renters who are unable to purchase their homes, with properties ultimately more likely to be purchased by wealthier households. In doing so, it would negatively impact the very people policymakers are trying to help and undermine the bill’s goal of addressing housing affordability.
As Congress advances housing legislation, lawmakers must ensure that policies intended to address the housing shortage do not instead halt construction of new rental communities, thereby hurting the very Americans they aim to help.
Along with NHC and our other partners, we remain dedicated to educating lawmakers about the importance of ensuring this important rental housing source can continue to serve Americans across the country and the communities where they live, so that next New Years Day, we can truly say that 2026 was “the year of housing”.