Lacking President’s Signature, Congressional Housing Hill With PA Ties Still Has Path To Law

By Charlotte Rene Woods | Pennsylvania Capital-Star

President Donald Trump was expected to sign a bipartisan bill last Wednesday that represents the most significant congressional action to address the nation’s housing shortage in decades, which has aspects piloted in Pennsylvania. 

Trump instead declined to sign and pledged not to do so unless Congress passes a controversial voting access bill, but it’s possible the measure will still become law. 

Virginia U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat who carried provisions of the housing bill, emphasized that potential path forward on Thursday despite what he called Trump’s “temper tantrum.”

Typically a bill becomes law within 10 days without a president’s signature so long as Congress is in session. The Senate went into recess late on Wednesday, and Warner is confident that there are enough votes to override any potential veto the president might decide to issue.

“We were about to have this big celebration of actually getting something done, that we’re addressing Americans’ concerns — and then he canceled the signing,” Warner said Thursday. 

He pointed to the “irony” of Republican Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana touting the bill at a press event as they found out the signing was canceled. 

“I hope that President Trump gets over his temper tantrum and just goes ahead (and signs it),” Warner said. 

What the bill would do

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was led by Sens. Tom Scott, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., along with U.S. Reps. French Hill, R-Ark., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

A key provision of the bill aligns with Trump’s goal to restrict large investment firms from buying up too many single-family homes. 

The practice has stifled first-time homebuyers or contributed to rapid gentrification in some neighborhoods. Proposed safeguards were previously introduced at the state level in Virginia but haven’t become state law.

Other portions of the federal bill mirror or were inspired by state laws in Virginia and elsewhere.

A provision to treat manufactured homes, or factory-built homes, the same as site-built homes concerning  zoning and financing is the basis of a new Virginia law that will take effect next month. It aims to make that housing type more attainable in communities that want or need them. 

A provision Warner carried to encourage redevelopment of under-utilized or derelict shopping centers into housing is similar to a “housing near jobs” bill that Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, introduced. The idea is to allow for apartments and townhomes to be authorized by-right in certain commercially-zoned corridors. 

“They’ve got water, electricity, oftentimes broadband, parking… These are sites that could be converted,” Warner explained of retrofitting old hotels and strip malls. 

While VanValkenburg’s manufactured homes bill became law, his “housing near jobs” has yet to cross the finish line at the state level. If the federal bill becomes law, Warner’s similar concept stands to make this type of development a little easier nationwide. 

VanValkenburg said he was thrilled to see lawmakers at different levels seeking housing solutions, especially in a starkly partisan federal legislature. 

“In a day and age where we all have, rightfully, a lot of cynicism about Congress and its ability to act, this seems like a bipartisan action on an issue that needs action,” Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, said.

Likewise, Democratic Pennsylvania state senator Nikil Saval was pleased to see the federal bill include a concept he’s championed in his state. The pilot program helps repair aging homes or abate health and safety issues and supports a job training program for people who do that type of work.

After carrying the legislative effort in his state, Saval worked with his federal senator, John Fetterman, to introduce it nationally, he said. Since then, various federal lawmakers have pitched similar bills. 

Saval testified before Congress about the federal bill with roots in his state as it gained traction and was officially added to the Road to Housing Act. 

“This is truly a dream to see it replicated at the national level,” he said in a call Thursday. 

Warner, VanValkenburg and Saval all see the federal housing bill as an accomplishment that both political parties can be proud of and a set of targeted solutions to a national problem. 

The president’s ultimatum

Trump’s last-minute reversal of his support for the housing bill was presented as attempted leverage for Congress to pass a voting access bill that would require people to prove their U.S. citizenship via a passport or a certified birth certificate in order to vote.

The measure, which Trump has advocated for for years, would also impose in-person voting and registration standards. 

Proponents believe it can strengthen trust in elections while opponents warn of the extra burdens it would place on people like married women whose names have changed or people who cannot afford to travel to apply for new documents. 

Despite pushback from people in his own party, Trump has since called passage of the bill a “national emergency” and said his signature on the housing bill hinges on the SAVE Act making it to his desk, too. 

Warner said Trump’s continued push for the SAVE America Act is because he “is still obsessed with the fact that he lost in 2020.” Trump has sustained false claims of voter fraud and tampering in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden. 

Warner added that Virginia, like most U.S. states,  already requires identification like driver’s licenses or state IDs to vote and that claims of voter fraud from 2020 have been debunked.

The president has 10 days to take action on the Road to Housing Act bill, after which time it will automatically become law. With the Senate not currently in session, inaction by Trump could be considered a “pocket veto.” However, Congress could override it with a two-thirds supermajority vote in both chambers.

This story was originally produced by Virginia Mercury, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Pennsylvania Capital-Star, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.