House moves ahead on sweeping housing bill, softening investor ban

The House approved a bipartisan housing affordability package (an amended ROAD to Housing Act) aimed at expanding supply through streamlined environmental reviews, local planning grants, and easier access to manufactured housing, while adopting a softer restriction on institutional investors than the Senate by not requiring sell-offs of build-to-rent/renovate-to-rent properties and instead creating a tenant hotline; the bills must be reconciled with the Senate version and sent to the president, potentially making it one of the broadest federal housing efforts in decades.