House Republicans and the team of Housing Financial Services Chair French Hill are pushing for the Housing for the 21st Century Act to a floor vote the week of February 9th. This ambitious legislative package includes twenty-five provisions to improve housing supply, including a number of pro-smart growth provisions that would remove red tape, ease environmental review for infill, and introduce a competitive grant program to support housing strategies and zoning reform. The bill and its Senate counterpart, the Road to Housing Act, offer the most notable federal legislative effort on housing in decades, reflecting the urgency of addressing the national housing shortage.

On December 11th, 2025, House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-AR) introduced the bipartisan Housing for the 21st Century Act. This package followed the Senate’s bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which was rejected during consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act.

While the House bill is less comprehensive than the Senate’s proposal, the bill includes provisions and opportunities to advance smart growth housing policies. For Smart Growth America’s analysis of both bills, see here.

Congress’s current bipartisan approach to lowering housing costs largely focuses on supply-side constraints. While increasing supply is part of the equation, it’s not sufficient on its own. Beyond just building more housing, we need more homes in the right places at the right price.

The Housing for the 21st Century Act includes several smart growth provisions that help move in that direction, including support for infill and missing middle housing and reduced regulatory barriers to housing production. Preserving these provisions in the final package is critical to ensuring that new housing actually supports accessible, affordable communities and gives households real choices about where they can live, work, and go to school.

As the House considers voting on Housing for the 21st Century, your representatives need to hear from constituents and organizations about the importance of taking a smart-growth approach to increasing housing supply. Our developers’ coalition, LOCUS, is focused on bringing this approach to Capitol Hill.

Take action: Use the form below to contact your representative and urge them to support the Housing for the 21st Century Act and protect its smart growth provisions.