The ROAD to Housing Act is a dead end for affordability

American families are enduring the least affordable housing market in history. President Donald Trump and Congress rightly recognize the scale of the crisis. But the Republican Senate’s 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a dead-end. The legislation fuels more home-price inflation with an expansion of government subsidies. Meanwhile, its frontal assault on private investment will suppress the supply of new single-family rental homes. Luckily, it appears the president is realizing that the Road to Housing Act advances problems rather than solutions.

The bill expands nearly every demand-side subsidy Washington already has on the books. Increasing FHFA multi-family loan limits steers more subsidized credit into housing, inflating values while crowding out private financing. Widening terms for government-backed manufactured housing loans will drive up prices in one of the last truly affordable market segments; and because manufactured housing supply is already choked by zoning barriers, that inflation risk is especially acute. New down-payment