Housing affordability bill is about to become law, even after Trump refuses to sign it ‘in PROTEST’
Claire Boston· Senior Reporter
Updated Fri, July 10, 2026 at 9:40 p.m. GMT+5:30
3 min read
A sweeping bipartisan housing affordability bill is set to become law in a matter of hours, even after President Trump reiterated on Friday that he won’t sign the legislation
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday morning
But unless Trump vetoes the bill, which he didn’t float as a possibility in his latest post, the housing bill remains on track to become law due to a quirk of constitutional law. The bill was formally presented to Trump on June 29, kicking off a 10-day waiting period — excluding Sundays — while Congress is in session before it can become law without his signature.
Even if Trump did veto the bill, the final version passed so overwhelmingly — 85-5 in the Senate and 358-32 in the House — that Congress could potentially override his veto. The legislation, called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, aims to improve housing affordability by incentivizing local governments to build more homes by streamlining complex environmental review processes, making it easier for credit unions and banks to issue mortgages, expanding access to modular homes, and restricting large corporate investors from purchasing single-family homes.
Following months of negotiations, the bill passed Congress by wide margins in late June and was sent to Trump for his signature. But just hours before a signing ceremony was set to take place, Trump said he wouldn’t sign the bill, saying he instead wanted Congress to focus on the SAVE America Act, a piece of voter identification legislation that lacks the votes to pass the Senate.
In an earlier Truth Social post, he called the housing bill “of minor importance compared to lower interest rates,” and later told reporters that it was “so unimportant” and “a yawn” compared to the voter ID bill.
The legislation has broad support from mortgage and homebuilding industry groups, civic organizations, and low-income housing advocates. The general public likes it too: A recent poll from the American Property Owners Alliance, a nonprofit organization funded by the National Association of Realtors, found that 89% of registered voters supported the bill
Housing affordability has become a growing concern for many Americans after average rents and home prices soared during the pandemic. The median home for sale in the US was listed for $430,000 in June, up more than 34% from $320,000 in mid-2019 meanwhile, is around $1,951 a month, a 40% jump from $1,392 seven years earlier
