A NEW ERA FOR HOUSING POLICY

Drive down almost any main street in a legacy Michigan city and you’ll pass one: a shuttered storefront or an empty factory floor, windows boarded, taxes still owed, sitting exactly where a family could be living. For years, that building was simply a symbol of what Flint and cities like it had lost. This summer, for the first time in three decades, Washington gave it a second act.

For years, Washington agreed on one thing: America has a housing shortage.

Finding agreement on how to fix it proved far more difficult.

That changed this summer.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed the U.S. Senate by an overwhelming 85-5 vote before clearing the House 358-32. Built from more than 60 individual housing proposals developed over several years, the legislation represents the most significant update to federal housing policy in more than 30 years.

Unlike many large federal bills, this legislation isn’t centered on creating massive new spending programs. Instead, it focuses on removing barriers that slow housing construction, modernizing outdated federal policies, rewarding communities that increase housing supply, and creating new opportunities to redevelop underused properties.

For local governments, nonprofit organizations, developers, and economic development agencies, the law opens an entirely new policy landscape.

WHAT CHANGED?

Rather than relying on a single solution, Congress adopted a collection of reforms designed to increase housing production across the country. Among the most significant provisions:

The RESIDE Act (Section 210)

The law creates a pilot program allowing communities to compete for federal grants that convert vacant commercial and industrial properties into affordable housing.

For legacy communities with aging commercial corridors and former industrial sites, this creates a new federal tool for redevelopment, the same kind of vacant building on the same kind of main street this story started with.

Innovation Fund (Section 208)

Congress established a competitive $200 million annual grant program that rewards communities increasing housing production through zoning reform, faster permitting, and policies encouraging new development.

Rather than rewarding planning alone, the program rewards measurable results.

Single-Stair Housing Reform (Section 102)

HUD will develop national guidance allowing residential buildings with a single staircase up to six stories through pilot programs. Many housing experts believe this could reduce construction costs while allowing more “missing middle” housing in urban neighborhoods.

Build Now Act (Section 213)

Federal Community Development Block Grant funding will increasingly reward communities that actually produce housing.

Jurisdictions that streamline housing development and increase production can receive additional incentives, while communities that fall behind risk reductions in future allocations.

Public Land Transparency (Section 104)

Communities receiving Community Development Block Grants must now publish searchable online databases identifying publicly owned vacant land available for development.

The goal is simple: make development opportunities easier to find.

Institutional Investor Limits (Title X)

The law restricts large institutional investors already owning at least 350 single-family homes from purchasing additional homes, while preserving exemptions for newly constructed build-to-rent developments.

The provision aims to improve opportunities for individual homebuyers without slowing new housing construction.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR FLINT

For Flint, the legislation arrives at an important moment.

The city has spent years building exactly the kind of groundwork this law rewards. The Genesee County Land Bank Authority, one of the largest and longest-running land banks in the country, already tracks more than 13,000 vacant properties across the county and has returned thousands of parcels to productive use since it was established in 2004. Along the Flint River, the 67-acre Chevy Commons site, a former GM production complex vacant for decades, is now at the heart of what’s set to become Genesee County’s first state park, proof the city can take on large-scale brownfield redevelopment and see it through.

The RESIDE Act’s promise, that long-vacant commercial and industrial buildings can become housing, lands directly on the kind of properties Flint has the most of: the boarded storefronts along Saginaw Street and the empty factory floors that have sat untouched since the city’s manufacturing era. Programs like the Innovation Fund reward communities willing to modernize local policies that encourage new construction, work the city has already been doing through recent zoning updates aimed at getting more housing built faster.

The new public land inventory requirement may be where Flint has the clearest head start of all. The Land Bank’s records already function as exactly the kind of inventory the law now requires nationally, meaning developers, nonprofits, and investors looking for vacant publicly owned property to redevelop may find fewer surprises here than almost anywhere else in the country.

Every community will compete for these resources, but the ones with projects already planned and partnerships already in place will likely be positioned to move first. In Flint’s case, a land bank with two decades of inventory and a brownfield project already underway, that head start may already exist.

THE OPPORTUNITY, AND THE CHALLENGE

One important detail often overlooked is that the legislation authorizes relatively little new federal spending. Instead, Congress reshaped how existing housing programs operate. That means success will depend less on simply applying for grants and more on understanding new federal rules, preparing competitive projects, and positioning communities before funding opportunities open. Communities that monitor federal implementation closely will likely have an advantage over those waiting until grant notices are released.

“The passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act represents more than a policy victory, it creates a roadmap for communities prepared to act. Federal funding increasingly rewards readiness. Cities with housing strategies, redevelopment plans, strong partnerships, and projects already moving through the pipeline will be positioned to compete first. Our role is helping clients navigate that process, identify opportunities early, and connect local priorities with emerging federal programs.”— Levi Todd, Managing Principal, The Nathaniel Group

LOOKING AHEAD

Although the legislation is now law, implementation is only beginning.

HUD must develop new regulations, launch competitive grant programs, establish application guidance, and issue implementation timelines over the coming months.

For municipalities, developers, nonprofit organizations, housing authorities, and economic development agencies, preparation starts today, not when the first Notice of Funding Opportunity is released.

The communities that understand the law early will be best positioned to leverage it. Which brings the story back to that boarded-up storefront: it’s no longer just a symbol of what was lost. Under this law, it’s the starting point for what gets built next.