Bipartisan housing bill — a step forward, not a Homes Guarantee

A bipartisan housing bill is headed to the president's desk. While details are still emerging, the bill reportedly includes provisions to increase housing supply through zoning reform incentives and extend certain affordable housing tax credits. This is a genuine bipartisan achievement — but housing justice organizers need to be clear-eyed: it does not deliver a Homes Guarantee.

As Matthew Desmond has argued, zoning reform alone cannot solve the crisis for the millions of renter households already paying more than half their income in rent. The bill does not cap rent increases, create a national eviction database, or permanently fund Emergency Rental Assistance. The People's Action Homes Guarantee Agenda offers the roadmap Congress should have followed: a federal rent cap of 3% or inflation (whichever is lower) for homes receiving tax benefits, a National Landlord Registry and Eviction Database to track corporate ownership and eviction patterns, and a massive reinvestment in public housing. Until Congress pairs supply-side measures with tenant power — right to counsel, just-cause eviction, rent stabilization — the crisis continues.

Organizers should welcome the bill's supply investments while demanding more: a permanent voucher program, AFFH enforcement, and direct tenant protections. The fight doesn't end at the signing ceremony.