Douglas Rooks has been a Maine editor and columnist for 41 years. His biography of Gov. Ken Curtis, “Transformational,” is now available. He welcomes comment at [email protected].
As the 119th Congress staggers toward conclusion, marked by seemingly endless partisan conflict, one major, amazingly bipartisan bill was enacted. The new federal housing law significantly restricts private equity in the real estate market while offering enhanced subsidies and new programs to help working families trying to buy their first homes.
You’ve probably heard little about it precisely because it generated relatively little controversy, and because, on his way to the celebratory ceremony at the Capitol, President Trump pulled out and said he wouldn’t, after all, sign the bill; he let it become law without his signature.
Trump had discovered that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who with her Republican counterpart on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Sen. Tim Scott, was principally responsible, and that wouldn’t do — even though the Senate passed it overwhelmingly, 89-10.
Nevertheless, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is Congress’ first and probably only contribution to stemming the “affordability crisis” that’s become a major campaign talking point across Maine and the nation. While complaints about food prices are legion, it’s a relatively easy problem compared with housing, a generational commitment young people won’t undertake unless they have confidence in the future — a commodity in short supply.
The bill’s most startling aspect is that Republicans accepted substantial checks on the “financialization” of housing markets, limiting corporate ownership to 350 units or less. While watered down from the original Senate version, this exception to the unfettered capitalism preferred by Republicans, and insisted on by the president, is a landmark — one we’ll need to steer by if housing is ever to become “affordable” again.
For as Sen. George Mitchell, who crafted the main federal tax credit supporting affordable housing, explained way back in the 1980s, housing is a necessity that’s poorly distributed by income. While it’s relatively easy to get food to the needy, the mismatch between incomes and housing prices parallels the healthcare gap: most working people can’t afford it on their own.
Mitchell, who was grappling with defunded federal housing programs, saw what was coming. While Ronald Reagan, the most popular Republican president of recent decades, saw his plan to cut Social Security benefits rejected, he did sharply reduce federal housing funds. Both the homeless problem and the affordability problem can be traced to these roots.
While complaints about food prices are legion, it’s a relatively easy problem compared with housing, a generational commitment young people won’t undertake unless they have confidence in the future — a commodity in short supply.
Viewed by historic standards — the GI Bill, which made homeowners of millions of returning World War II veterans, and Great Society enhancements of the 1960s, spreading federal aid more broadly — the new legislation is modest. But given the gridlocked nature of recent Congresses, it’s a monumental achievement.
So it’s a shame the communicator in chief spurned the bill. Republicans will now rarely talk about it while campaigning — but that doesn’t mean Democrats can’t.
Housing also became a top concern in Maine during the last two legislatures, and unlike most big issues, lawmakers and key municipalities made substantial progress, both in scaling back zoning restrictions that effectively limited housing starts and beefing up first-time homebuyer programs. As a result, Maine exceeded its short-term construction goals for the first time in years.
There are lessons to be learned. The Warren-Scott bill was the product of long negotiations, strategizing and compromises. Most major bills have long gestation periods, often extending over several years.
If Democrats win back Congress this year, it will be largely due to the “forever war” Donald Trump started but apparently cannot end, and its economic repercussions — higher energy prices pushing inflation to uncomfortable levels. The same issue hurt Democrats in 2024, only this time it’s not a largely unavoidable post-pandemic burst — even the Federal Reserve didn’t see it coming — but the willful actions of a president who believes he can do no wrong.
If Democrats finally want to govern again, however, rather than riding cyclical electoral waves, they will have to get serious about legislation and the hard work it entails. A good place to start would be immigration law, where the polarities switch from “sanctuary cities” to “mass deportation,” neither workable in a nation that must continue to welcome immigrants if it’s to maintain a viable workforce and remain true to its ideals.
Trump is demonstrating one kind of folly, as the militarization of ICE enforcement kills blameless citizens and legal residents without much reducing the enormous case backlog, leaving millions in legal limbo. But accepting everyone who crosses the border is equally impossible.
A new bill — hopefully bipartisan — would streamline the process and provide enough resources to allow hearings in months, not years, and an entirely unnecessary conflict can begin to fade. The housing bill shows the way.