Blog: Pensacola Habitat for Humanity Welcomes New Housing Legislation
Posted July 21, 2026
The ROAD to Housing Act
Pensacola Habitat for Humanity is always on the watch for housing policy and legislation that supports affordable housing, especially if it can impact our ability to serve our community here across Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. We do this not only because it affects our work, but because we strive to be an authority on all things housing.
On June 22 and 23, after months of negotiating and amending, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives passed two bills that make up the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. This new law, known as the “ROAD to Housing Act,” has wide-ranging implications for local housing markets across the country, and begins to address the critical need for affordable housing opportunities in the country.
The law creates affordable housing funds for local governments and organizations, reauthorizes previously defunct funds, and loosens restrictions around building affordable housing, among other things. It is one of the largest legislative packages ever passed on the topic of housing.
“We are encouraged by the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act because it addresses practical barriers that make affordable homes harder and more expensive to build,” Sam Young, President & CEO of Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, said.
The Act comes at a critical moment in the affordable housing crisis. Last year, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies released its "State of the Nation’s Housing" report. This report, which was co-sponsored by Habitat for Humanity International, found an extremely contracted housing market that was pricing low-income renters out at alarming rates.
One key takeaway from the report was that the average cost for a single-family home had reached an all-time high of more than $400,000. As the gap between home costs and annual incomes continues to expand, it becomes increasingly difficult for renters to convert to homeowners. In 2021, 1 in 3 renters had the income to buy a home at the median cost; in 2024, that gap had widened to 1 in 7 renters. The report also found that rental unaffordability and homelessness “hit all-time highs,” and that more than 25% of renters were spending more than half of their income on housing.
“At the same time, federal housing support is lessening, creating uncertainty regarding the availability of crucial assistance programs,” the report read. This bill is the largest movement made towards addressing the issues the report outlines, and that we are seeing in our community.
Passing this bill to become a law was a bipartisan effort that garnered the support of dozens of groups. However, Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) specifically endorsed or supported ten sections of the law. Some of the endorsed acts and how they might impact our work are detailed below.
HFHI Endorsed Provisions
HFHI endorsed a mixture of avenues for local communities to create and preserve affordable housing opportunities. Billions of dollars will be on the table, a crucial influx for our mission of affordable housing for everyone.
The PRICE Act, first created in 2022, was reauthorized for another seven years. Seven years of funding will help local communities maintain and stabilize manufactured housing communities. Manufactured housing communities are a critical avenue for increasing the affordable housing supply. Stabilizing the fund will go a long way to address this without looming uncertainty.
Congress authorized the Whole-Home Repairs Act and the Innovation Fund for the first time. The Whole-Home Repairs Act directs U.S. Housing and Urban Development to create a new program that offers grants and forgivable loans to low-income homeowners to address home repair needs and accessibility challenges. The Innovation Fund will provide funding over five years to offer flexible and competitive grants to local communities that are actively tackling the housing crisis.
Other important provisions direct HUD to modernize the HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Reform Act (known as “HOME”) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), grant programs critical to HFH’s housing mission. HOME and CDBGs are the two most utilized programs across Habitat for Humanity affiliates.
The HOME Act was first authorized by the Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act of 1990. Since then, Habitat for Humanity has routinely tapped this fund to further our mission to provide affordable housing solutions for communities in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Locally here at PHFH, we tap into funds within HOME to access downpayment assistance through our Homebuyer Program. With these funds, we ease, on average, a burden of $25,000 to help someone become a first-time homeowner. Some funds within HOME allow us to offer even $50,000 in Santa Rosa County. Learn more about our Homebuyer Program here.
The ROAD to Housing Act reinvests and revitalizes this program. One critical change will allow more parties to access the HOME fund, where it had been previously limited. Another critical change reduces the duplicative environmental reviews, and another increases the cap that HOME funds can be used to purchase and rehabilitate.
Since their establishment in 2022, CDBGs have been restricted to use by organizations when building affordable housing. The ROAD to Housing Act authorizes these funds for new construction for the first time, potentially increasing the affordable housing market. This is a welcome change that we anticipate will allow Habitat for Humanity affiliates to add new supply to the market.
“By modernizing HOME and CDBG, streamlining environmental reviews, and strengthening tools for home repair and preservation, the law can help Habitat affiliates make better use of limited resources and serve more families. In Northwest Florida, that can translate directly into more affordable homes and stronger, more stable communities,” Young said.
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