President Donald Trump allowed landmark housing legislation to become law overnight on Friday without his signature. He had earlier refused to sign it in protest over Congress’s failure to pass voter ID legislation but did not veto the housing bill.
Experts have said the legislation marks the most comprehensive action from Congress on lowering house costs for renters and homebuyers in the 21st Century. Americans have been frustrated with housing costs.
Trump, who has repeatedly made false claims of widespread fraud altering the results of US elections, wanted Republicans to prioritise the voter ID bill ahead of the November midterm elections. Without his veto, it became law automatically.
In June, both chambers of Congress approved the housing bill – called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act – in a rare moment of bipartisan agreement.
“This bill becoming law is a genuine milestone—and I don’t use that word lightly,” Dennis Shea, of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), said. “Getting Congress to move on housing supply and affordability has been a long time coming, and the American people made clear they were ready for it.”
A survey from the BPC earlier this year found that 89% of voters from across the political spectrum wanted action from Congress to make housing more affordable.
After Congress passed the Road to Housing legislation, Trump cancelled a ceremony to sign the bill and said he would not do so until the voter ID law was passed.
As recently as Friday, he reiterated his call for passage of the The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE), which would require Americans to provide ID and proof of citizenship to vote.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in protest over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing the Save America Act,” Trump posted on social media.
Republicans, who control the House and the Senate by slim majorities, have said there is not enough support to get the measure over the finish line. Democrats say the SAVE legislation disenfranchises eligible voters.
After Trump’s Friday post about not signing the bill, several Democrats attacked the move on social media.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X that Republicans “would rather make it harder to vote than easier to afford a home”.
What does the housing bill do?
The housing bill aims to both reduce costs and increase housing supply, as Americans have faced housing shortages for years.
It includes more than 40 provisions, including making it easier to build new homes and limiting how many single-family homes institutional investors can buy nationwide.
The bill comes as the median price of existing homes hit an all-time high in June: $440,660 (£328,000), up 1.8% from $432,700 a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
A US family needs an income of about $117,000 a year to afford an average home on the market, according to the real estate brokerage Redfin, but that is nearly $30,000 more than what most US households earn, according to Census data.
Potential homebuyers also face high inflation and interest rates, making homeownership even more out of reach for many Americans.
By BBC News
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