Trump’s Silence Leaves Housing Affordability Bill In Limbo

A Senate bill aimed at making housing more affordable should be a slam-dunk for Republicans’ affordability message. Instead, it’s exposing GOP disarray on the very cost-of-living issues voters care most about in an election year.

The bipartisan legislation sailed through the Senate Thursday, but its future in the House remains uncertain amid demands from GOP hard-liners for major changes. President Donald Trump could step in to break the impasse between the two chambers by expressing support for the Senate’s work — but so far has shown little interest in helping advance a centerpiece of the party’s efforts to address rising costs ahead of the midterms.

It’s a reversal for Trump, who began 2026 by pressing Congress to codify a provision to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes — then last week told House Republicans gathered for their retreat in Florida that nobody cares about housing issues. Instead, he said the most important thing Congress can do is pass a partisan election bill that doesn’t have the Senate votes to overcome major procedural hurdles.

“If the White House wants the House to pick up the bill and pass it, they'll probably have to make that argument to the House leadership,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday of the housing package.

The GOP standoff over the once-in-a-decade housing bill, which passed by a vote of 89-10, illustrates a broader struggle among Republicans over how to address affordability concerns that could tip the balance in either chamber of Congress in November. Fueling voter discontent is a housing market in which the average age of a first-time homebuyer is at a record high of 40. Added to that are new concerns over energy costs as a White House-initiated conflict with Iran surges global oil prices.

“The age of affordability is now and the solution to affordability is, in fact, us,” said Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in a rallying cry to colleagues on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.

It’s becoming clear, though, that Republicans need the president to resolve an interchamber dispute. The Senate attempted to combine their housing bill priorities with those passed as part of a separate package in the House, specifically looking to address housing supply and affordability. Senators included Trump’s priority of restricting large investors in the housing market and a provision meant as a sweetener for House Republicans that would temporarily ban the Federal Reserve from creating a digital currency until after 2030.

Both of these additions have created numerous issues in the House, however, with conservative Republicans now saying the temporary ban on Central Bank Digital Currency needs to be permanent. House Republicans are also generally blanching at the large investors provision, even after much cajoling from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last month.

It remains unclear if Trump will now step in to force the House to accept the Senate bill, which includes a White House-negotiated provision on large investors.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle pushed back against the notion that Trump no longer cares about a housing bill but did not say if the president would get involved in getting legislation to his desk.

"The President will not stop fighting until the American Dream of homeownership is within reach for every American, which is why he will sign bold new executive orders on housing in the coming days," Ingle said in a statement. "At the same time, President Trump has made clear publicly that passing the SAVE America Act is Congress's most urgent priority right now to strengthen election integrity and protect our democracy.”

A White House official said "the administration supports the bill as-is."

"This is a major bipartisan victory for the president. He called for this in the State of the Union. He's worked closely with Senator Scott,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said Thursday, regarding Trump. “I'm hoping he does weigh in with the House members to get this accomplished so he can sign it quickly into law."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored the Senate bill with Scott, was quick to put pressure on the House.

“House Republicans should immediately take up this bill and pass it," she said on the Senate floor immediately after the vote. "If they do not, they will have to explain to families across this country in November why they refuse to lower the cost of housing."

Some House Republicans are saying Congress should go into bicameral conference negotiations to iron out the wide policy differences between Republicans in both chambers. That includes Speaker Mike Johnson, who broached the possibility during a closed-door, conference-wide meeting Wednesday during the House GOP retreat, according to four people in the room granted anonymity to describe the private meeting.

House Financial Services Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Chair Mike Flood (R-Neb.) also said conference negotiations may be necessary for the House to move forward.

After the Senate passed the housing bill, House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) said in a statement that the vote was an "important first step," but "it is critical we get the details right and mitigate some of the concerns raised by House members with the Senate bill."

The sentiment in the House hasn’t changed, said a senior House GOP aide granted anonymity to discuss ongoing conversations: “The plan is to insist on a conference since the Senate product remains wholly unacceptable.”

Thune said “there’s always a possibility” of a conference, but this method of reconciling legislative differences has become an increasingly uncommon phenomenon and holds a very real risk of torpedoing the entire effort.

Brent Buchanan, founder of the GOP polling firm Cygnal, said Congress should do whatever it takes to achieve success.

“Normal people are not following the machinations of Congress. They don't care how the sausage is made, just whether it's made or not,” he said. “It only becomes an issue for the GOP if it fails and the Democrats can say that Republicans voted against big institutions buying up single-family homes.”

Housing activists and industry stakeholders have cheered on previous versions of the House and Senate bills, excited that Congress has finally focused on what they consider to be a national home supply crisis.

But multiple coalitions of industry advocates have continued raised concerns after Thursday's Senate vote about the upper chamber's most recent institutional investors provision which requires corporations that acquire homes built as rentals to sell their properties in seven years — a provision some worry will disincentivize homebuilding instead of expanding it.

"Unfortunately, the promise of this overwhelmingly pro-housing legislation is now undermined by the eleventh-hour addition of a provision that will have an immediate chilling effect on housing supply, affordability and investment," said Sharon Wilson Géno, National Multifamily Housing Council president, and Bob Pinnegar, National Apartment Association president and CEO, in a joint statement.

National Association of Home Builders Chairman Bill Owens urged the House to seek a conference on the bill and "make changes to remove the government mandate to sell rental housing within seven years so that it will not lead to a decrease in new construction."

Cassandra Dumay and Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.