Public Housing Authorities

The sections below are the ones this guide leans on, in the order they matter most. Each links to the full plain-English breakdown and the enrolled text.

• Sec. 405reformChoice in Affordable Housing ActStreamlines Housing Choice Voucher inspections. A unit in a LIHTC, HOME-assisted, or USDA Rural Housing Service-assisted property that passed a physical inspection in the prior 12 months is deemed to meet HCV inspection requirements if the PHA can obtain the results; HUD may allow remote or video inspections in rural or small areas if they are thorough and accurate; and a "new landlord" who has never held a HAP contract may ask the PHA to pre-inspect a unit — a pass counts as the initial inspection if a lease is signed within 60 days. PHAs must give newly selected families a list of pre-inspected units.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 212reformRental Assistance Demonstration ProgramMakes the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) permanent by removing its September 30, 2029 end date, raises the public housing conversion cap from 455,000 to 555,000 units, and layers on accountability: HUD must annually assess and publish the impacts of First Component conversions on preservation, leveraging, resident return, and tenant rights; may adopt a mandatory tenant lease and management plan addendum; and may impose remediation or civil money penalties for material violations. Owner and tenant rights are preserved and PHA-owned property must be used for affordable housing, not "sporting, private, or for-profit purposes."Read the breakdown
• Sec. 505pilotNew Moving to Work CohortAuthorizes HUD to add up to 25 high-performing public housing agencies to a new Moving to Work (MTW) cohort — the "Economic Opportunity and Pathways to Independence Cohort" — but only after HUD files a first comprehensive MTW report to Congress. The cohort’s waiver menu is limited to the flexibilities in HUD’s 2020 MTW Operations Notice (as amended in 2025) minus fourteen named waivers, so it cannot impose work requirements, time limits or the most aggressive rent reforms. The section also imposes detailed annual reporting on every MTW cohort.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 404pilotHelping More Families Save ActAdds an "Escrow Expansion Pilot Program" to the Family Self-Sufficiency statute. HUD may select up to 25 PHAs and project-based Section 8 owners to run interest-bearing escrow accounts for up to 5,000 assisted families; no amounts may be escrowed for a family whose adjusted income exceeds 80 percent of AMI at the time of enrollment. Rent increases attributable to earned income are deposited in escrow — funded, if needed, from Section 8 or 9 funds — and families can withdraw after leaving welfare assistance and generally at five to seven years, or earlier for self-sufficiency goals. Enrollment is automatic with a right to opt out; no FSS contract or training plan is required.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 602reformHousing Unhoused Disabled Veterans ActFixes a long-standing barrier for disabled veterans: VA disability compensation and pension (38 U.S.C. chapters 11 and 15) no longer counts when determining income eligibility for HUD-VASH, or when a HUD-VASH household is evaluated for other housing assistance. The benefits still count as income when a PHA calculates adjusted income and the family’s rent share. A parallel exclusion applies to veterans renting HUD-assisted units built on VA property after enactment.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 803studyImproving Self-Sufficiency of Families in HUD-Subsidized HousingOrders a HUD study of work requirements that Moving to Work agencies adopted before enactment — their short-, medium- and long-term effects on homelessness, poverty, asset building, earnings, job attainment and retention, and PHA administrative capacity — using both quantitative data and interviews with participants and resident councils. Initial findings are due to Congress in 1 year, but only if HUD determines there are enough such agencies for a rigorous evaluation and the study would not harm assisted families.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 805oversightImproving Public Housing Agency AccountabilityNew transparency duties for the small set of "covered" public housing agencies — defined in the past tense and more broadly than it may look: a PHA "for which an administrative or judicial receiver or Federal monitor was appointed," whether or not the appointment is still in force. The annual notice then reports whether a receiver or monitor remains appointed as of October 1. Covered PHAs must notify HUD annually about the receivership or monitorship, receivers and monitors must send both housing committees a written assessment by October 1 each year and furnish information or testimony on request, covered PHAs must post contract details on their websites, and the HUD Inspector General must analyze a covered PHA within 180 days of a committee request.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 106pilotTemperature Sensor Pilot ProgramCreates a HUD grant pilot for PHAs and owners of public housing, project-based Section 8, Section 202, and Section 811 units to buy, install, and test HUD-approved internet-connected temperature sensors — only with each resident’s written permission — to check that units stay within temperature requirements. Participants must track temperature-related complaints and violations, HUD must set privacy standards, and HUD must evaluate the results.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 205reformBetter Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development (BUILD) Housing ActLets HUD designate any assistance it administers as a "special project" for environmental review, which allows states, localities, and — newly — federally recognized Indian Tribes to assume HUD’s NEPA responsibilities. The designation does not apply where another statute already spells out the NEPA procedure, and it reaches only funds appropriated after enactment (not projects that blend pre- and post-enactment money).Read the breakdown
• Sec. 206reformUnlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews ActDirects HUD to rewrite its environmental review regulations (24 CFR parts 50 and 58) through notice-and-comment rulemaking so that a long list of housing activities are exempt or categorically excluded from NEPA review. Tenant-based rental assistance, supportive services, operating costs, homebuyer assistance, and predevelopment costs become exempt; small rehab and up-to-4-unit projects become categorical exclusions not subject to related federal laws; and 5–15 unit new construction, office-to-residential conversions, infill projects of up to 5 acres, and voluntary acquisitions of disaster-impacted floodway or floodplain properties become categorical exclusions subject to those laws. HUD must report annually on time and cost savings.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 501reformHOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Reform ActA top-to-bottom modernization of HOME, the block grant that states and larger localities use for affordable rental and homeownership housing. It permanently authorizes the program, raises the income and price limits for homeownership assistance, lets non-CDBG participating jurisdictions fund infrastructure next to HOME or LIHTC housing, exempts several activity types from NEPA review, relieves small jurisdictions from Section 3, and gives HUD stronger enforcement tools. Most changes are self-executing; HUD owes two rulemakings within one year.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 503reformIncentivizing Local Solutions to HomelessnessGives Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) recipients a way to spend more than the statutory cap on emergency shelter and street outreach. For FY2027 through FY2030 funds, a recipient may ask HUD to waive the McKinney-Vento §415(b) expenditure limit after soliciting public input and notifying subrecipients and Continuums of Care. HUD must decide within 60 days, publish requests and revocations, and must deny waivers to recipients that relocate people without offering shelter or housing options.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 304grantPRICE ActCodifies HUD’s PRICE program as new Section 123 of the Housing and Community Development Act, captioned "Preservation and Reinvestment for Community Enhancement" (HUD’s administrative name for the program does include "Initiative"): competitive grants, subject to appropriations, to resident-owned communities, local governments, housing authorities, CDFIs, nonprofits, Tribes, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, states, and owner-operators for infrastructure, home repair and replacement, acquisition, planning, and resident services in manufactured housing communities affordable at or below 120 percent of AMI. Priority goes to projects that primarily benefit low- and moderate-income residents and lock in long-term affordability. The program sunsets seven years after enactment.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 1001prohibitionHomes Are for People, Not CorporationsThe Act’s most debated provision. Starting 180 days after enactment (January 7, 2027), a "large institutional investor" — a for-profit fund, corporation, partnership, LLC or similar entity in the business of investing in single-family homes that, alone or in concert, has investment control of at least 350 single-family homes — may not purchase or contract to purchase any single-family home (a structure with 2 or fewer units; manufactured homes excluded). Eleven categories of "excepted purchases," including build-to-rent and homes built or renovated for sale, are carved out. Treasury (or DOJ at Treasury’s request) can seek civil penalties of up to $1,000,000 per violation or three times the purchase price, whichever is greater, and HUD must run a renter outreach resource. The prohibition and enforcement provisions are repealed 15 years after they take effect.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 1202otherNo Additional Funds AuthorizedOne sentence that shapes everything else: "No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the requirements of this Act or any amendment made by this Act." The Act creates or reshapes dozens of programs, pilots and studies, but — with the notable exception of the Innovation Fund’s $200 million-a-year authorization in Section 208 — it supplies no new authorized funding, so implementation depends on annual appropriations and existing agency budgets.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 213reformBuild Now ActTies a slice of CDBG entitlement money to housing production. Starting with the third full fiscal year after enactment and running through FY2043, HUD computes each metropolitan city’s and urban county’s "housing growth improvement rate" — a normalized index: the last five years’ average annual unit growth minus the prior five years’, divided by the sum of their absolute values. Recipients below the median rate lose 10 percent of their allocation, and that money is redistributed as bonuses to at-or-above-median and "extremely high-growth" (4 percent a year or more) recipients in proportion to their recent unit growth. Low-cost, high-vacancy, recently disaster-declared, and no-zoning-authority jurisdictions are exempt.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 207grantGrants for Planning and Implementation Associated with Affordable HousingCreates a competitive HUD grant program — to be established within one year — for states, insular areas, metropolitan cities, urban counties, and regional planning agencies to develop and implement housing plans, update zoning codes, build inspection capacity, and coordinate with transportation. Grants cannot pay for construction, alteration, or repair. HUD coordinates with the Federal Transit Administration; the program sunsets five years after enactment and has no dedicated authorization of appropriations.Read the breakdown
• Sec. 208authorizationInnovation FundAuthorizes $200 million a year for FY2027–FY2031 for competitive HUD grants to metropolitan cities, urban counties, other local governments, and Tribes that can show an "objective improvement in housing supply growth" under a HUD methodology published for comment at least 90 days before each NOFO. Winners may spend on CDBG-eligible activities, RAISE-type transportation projects, or local initiatives that expand "attainable housing" (≤120% AMI, majority ≤60% AMI). At least 25 grants a year of $250,000 to $10 million, with priority for innovative pro-supply policies. Nothing lets HUD preempt local zoning.Read the breakdown

Source: Enrolled bill text, H.R. 6644 (govinfo) (opens in a new tab) · Section numbers as enacted · reviewed Aug 29, 2026

Grouped by when we'd start on each item. Tick things off as you go — progress is saved in your browser.

• No new money: Section 1202 says no additional funds are authorized, so the FSS pilot, temperature sensors, and MTW research all depend on appropriations that have not been made as of August 2026.

• HUD guidance gap: no PIH notice, RAD notice revision, or MTW cohort notice citing the Act had been located as of August 29, 2026 — the statute is effective, but expect HUD to fill in documentation rules (for example, how to show you can "obtain" another program’s inspection results).

• MTW reporting applies to all cohorts, not just the new one; NAHRO and CLPHA have both said they will press HUD to keep it workable.

• What did not pass: no HCV landlord incentive fund, security-deposit assistance, SAFMR mandate, third-party income verification, or small-PHA regulatory relief made it into the final law.

• Section 505 bars the new cohort from work requirements and time limits. The waiver numbers are Appendix I numbers from HUD’s Final MTW Expansion Operations Notice, Part VI (pp. 36–38): 12 is Work Requirement, 6 is Short-Term Assistance and 7 is Term-Limited Assistance. Waivers 10 (FSS with MTW Flexibility) and 11 (MTW Self-Sufficiency Program) are permitted, which is why §505(c)(3)(B) makes resident participation in them optional. HUD’s separate proposed rule on work requirements and term limits (March 2026) is still pending and interacts with this.

• PHAs are expressly excluded from the institutional-investor purchase ban in Section 1001 (government entities are not "large institutional investors").

• bill textGovInfo (GPO) · Jun 25, 2026H.R. 6644 — Enrolled bill text (21st Century ROAD to Housing Act) (opens in a new tab)

  The enrolled text as sent to the President — the version this hub quotes. Use it to check any section heading, deadline, or dollar figure.

• explainerBipartisan Policy Center · Mar 10, 2026BPC — What’s in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act? (opens in a new tab)

  BPC’s explainer of the merged Senate text (March 2026). Section numbers here pre-date the House amendment — check against the enrolled text.

• trackerBipartisan Policy Center · Jul 20, 2026BPC — 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Implementation Tracker (opens in a new tab)

  Deadline-by-deadline tracker of required agency actions (e.g., investor restriction effective Jan 7, 2027; program sunsets from 2031). Updated periodically.

• explainerNational Low Income Housing Coalition · Jul 10, 2026NLIHC — 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act: Impacts on Low-Income Households (July 2026) (opens in a new tab)

  NLIHC’s section-referenced impact analysis of the enacted text — wins, provisions to monitor (RAD, MTW), and what’s still missing.

• explainerNAHRO · Jul 13, 2026NAHRO — In a Major Win for Housers, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Becomes Law (opens in a new tab)

  PHA-focused summary: MTW cohort size tiers, RAD cap increase, HCV inspection reforms, FSS changes. The starting point for housing-authority staff.

• explainerSenate Banking Committee · Mar 2, 2026Fact sheet — oversight and accountability (opens in a new tab)

  One-pager on HUD testimony, reporting, and PHA accountability provisions.

• explainerSenate Banking Committee · Mar 2, 2026Fact sheet — families, veterans, rural communities (opens in a new tab)

  One-pager on FSS, voucher, VA, and rural housing provisions.

• agency guidanceHUD Office of Public and Indian Housing · Jul 15, 2026Notice PIH 2026-18 — NSPIRE administrative procedures for voucher programs (opens in a new tab)

  Sets the NSPIRE-V compliance date (Feb 1, 2027) but does not yet reflect the Sec. 405 inspection changes — PIH guidance implementing Sec. 405 is still outstanding.

• trackerBipartisan Policy CenterBPC — FY2027 HUD appropriations tracker (opens in a new tab)

  Because Sec. 1202 authorizes no new money, most ROAD programs depend on FY2027 appropriations — follow them here.

• explainerNational Low Income Housing Coalition · Apr 1, 2026NLIHC — Explainer: 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (opens in a new tab)

  Plain-language explainer of the merged bill for advocates.

• newsNAHRO · Jul 20, 2026NAHRO — 21st Century ROAD Act becomes law as Congress nears August recess (opens in a new tab)

  Follow-up on implementation status and appropriations context; notes no HUD guidance yet.

• explainerCouncil of Large Public Housing Authorities · Jun 24, 2026CLPHA — Updated 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passes Congress (opens in a new tab)

  Large-PHA view of the final text, with concerns about MTW reporting and rent-policy limits.

2 more tagged for public housing authorities in the full library.