03.12.26

Sullivan Welcomes Senate Passage of 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, Including Provisions for Alaska

WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today welcomed Senate passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, comprehensive legislation to increase housing supply, cut regulatory barriers, and expand homeownership opportunities across the country, including in Alaska’s rural and urban communities.

“Wherever I am in Alaska, whether in our rural communities or more urban areas, I hear from countless Alaskans struggling to find affordable housing. Supply shortages and the high cost of construction are major contributors to this crisis,” Sen. Sullivan said. “ROAD to Housing takes meaningful steps to address these challenges head on: modernizing local development and rural housing programs, streamlining burdensome federal red tape, supporting the innovative work many communities are undertaking to increase supply, including with manufactured housing, encouraging investment in housing, improving access to lending, expanding tools that can help families repair homes and maintain Alaska’s existing housing stock, and helping more veterans make use of the housing benefits they’ve earned. This legislation also builds on the progress we made in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act by complementing key economic development tools, like Opportunity Zones and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit—programs that help drive private investment and expand housing development in underserved communities across our state. Together, these efforts will expand safe, affordable housing opportunities across Alaska and help more Alaskans achieve the dream of homeownership.”

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will help unlock greater housing availability by:

  • Increasing the cap on banks’ public welfare investments, including Housing Credits and Housing Bonds, from 15% of a bank’s capital and surplus to 20%, increasing demand from investors for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, thus increasing capital investment for affordable housing construction.
  • Establishing a flexible Innovation Fund to support communities, including tribes and Alaska Native Corporations, working to increase housing supply and improve community infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems.
  • Reauthorizing and modernizing key federal housing programs, including the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which is used annually in Alaska to help expand affordable housing and homeownership opportunities while reducing development costs and administrative burdens.
  • Authorizing HUD’s Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Program to provide grants to communities to maintain, protect, and stabilize manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities and including a set aside for rural and tribal communities.
  • Incentivizing landlord participation in the Section 8 voucher program by removing red-tape for the housing choice voucher (HCV) process. In Alaska, over 4,000 families participate in the HCV program statewide and more than 2,000 rental property owners are already accepting HCVs. There is currently a waitlist for HCVs in Alaska. More landlords accepting HCVs could help reduce this waitlist.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will support housing repair and restoration by:

  • Authorizing a home repair pilot program to address Alaska’s aging housing stock by providing grants and loan opportunities to help families repair homes, improve energy and water efficiency, and address health and safety hazards. The program can also support workforce training for critical home repair industries, an important need in many rural Alaska communities.
  • Strengthening disaster recovery tools by permanently authorizing the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery program and establishing a new Long-Term Disaster Recovery Fund to support housing restoration, infrastructure rebuilding, economic revitalization, and mitigation efforts in communities impacted by catastrophic disasters, including Alaska communities rebuilding after Typhoon Halong.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will cut costly, unnecessary red tape by:

  • Streamlining federal environmental reviews to reduce unnecessary delays for housing development while maintaining appropriate protections, including simplifying review requirements for smaller housing projects and improving coordination between federal agencies.
  • Right-sizing National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) reviews for small and infill housing projects, which will simplify the regulatory process.
  • Directing HUD and USDA to coordinate on joint environmental reviews for housing projects funded by both agencies.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will improve veterans’ access to housing by:

  • Improving transparency and access to home loan options for veterans, including a provision that Sen. Sullivan cosponsored in the Veterans Affairs Loan Informed Disclosure (VALID) Act.
  • Excluding veterans’ disability compensation from annual income calculations under the HUD-VASH program to help more homeless veterans access Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) housing.

Sen. Sullivan has been a leader in the Senate on working to increase the supply of affordable housing for middle- and low-income families and individuals, notably through his Workforce Housing Tax Credit (WHTC) Act, which would establish the first-ever middle-income housing tax credit, mirroring the success of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit.

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