With the U.S. House of Representatives indefinitely recessed and rising pressure on lawmakers to ensure active-duty military members receive scheduled paychecks during the ongoing government shutdown, the Senate passed an annual defense policy bill that will fund the U.S. military at $924.7 billion in fiscal 2026.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is an omnibus funding bill that typically includes a host of lawmakers’ signature projects as amendments. The NDAA does not allocate funds but defines strategic priorities for national defense, influencing subsequent appropriations.

Passage of the NDAA permits the House and Senate armed services committees to begin hashing out a compromise between each chambers’ respective versions, the House having passed theirs in early September. The Senate version passed on a strong bipartisan margin, 77-20, after a monthlong impasse over various amendments to the bill.

One amendment to the NDAA is the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation introduced by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The housing bill passed the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs — which Scott chairs and Warren serves on as the ranking member — with a unanimous 24-0 vote in July.

Reflecting on Thursday’s passage of the broader NDAA, Scott said in statement, “From protecting our military bases from Chinese influence, to securing America’s supply chains, to expanding access to housing, these provisions reflect the priorities of the American people: safety, security, and opportunity.”

The version of the ROAD to Housing Act that passed in July represents 315 pages of smaller, more targeted proposals designed to improve housing supply and investment across myriad sectors of the housing and housing finance industries, some of which include: 

• Reauthorization of Preservation and Reinvestment for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grants to fund the repair, preservation and improvement of existing manufactured homes and manufactured home communities.
• Creation of a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pilot program through the Whole-Home Repairs Act, to provide grants and forgivable loans to eligible homeowners and landlords for home repairs and modifications.
• Creation of a pilot grant program to help local governments convert vacant commercial or industrial buildings into affordable housing, prioritizing economically distressed areas.
• Passage of the Choice in Affordable Housing Act to reduce delays in HUD inspections for eligible units financed through certain federal housing programs.
• Access to capital markets for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) through passage of the Scaling Community Lenders Act.

Calling the legislation the “first of its kind in over a decade,” Warren remarked in a Thursday press release that the housing bill “takes important steps to boost the nation’s housing supply, improve housing affordability, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs.”

Mortgage and housing industry groups had similar sentiments, acknowledging that the ROAD to Housing Act is not a done deal if it does not survive cross-chamber conferencing.

Notably, the House version of the NDAA passed in early September does not include the ROAD to Housing Act or provisions supporting CDFIs.

“The Senate’s passage of the ROAD to Housing Act is a win for housing affordability and consumers,” said Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), in a statement. He added that the MBA “will stay fully engaged with congressional leaders in both chambers to strengthen key provisions — including those dealing with lender liability and second appraisals — to ensure the final package delivers meaningful results for consumers, lenders, and the communities they serve.”

David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), a broad consortium of affordable housing stakeholders, placed particular emphasis on provisions in the housing bill supporting CDFIs.

“NHC strongly urges all conferees to ensure the ROAD to Housing Act and CDFI provisions remain in the final legislation,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to working with members of both the Senate and House of Representatives to enact this bipartisan legislation.”

The National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL) also applauded the passage of various housing provisions as part of the larger NDAA.

“Through updates to support additional housing construction and preservation, as well as private investment in housing and other community development needs, the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act and CDFI legislation that passed the Senate today will play an essential role in boosting our nation’s housing supply and supporting our nation’s rural, tribal, and lower- and moderate-income communities,” said Sarah Brundage, president and CEO of NAAHL, in a statement.