{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-welcomes-senate-passage-of-21st-century-road-to-housing-act-including-provisions-for-alaska-june", "Sullivan Welcomes Senate Passage of 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, Including Provisions for Alaska", "2026-06-23", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Dan Sullivan", "S001198", "www.sullivan.senate.gov", "sullivan", "https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases?PageNum_rs=1", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014 U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today welcomed Senate passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, comprehensive legislation to increase housing supply, cut regulatory barriers, and expand homeownership opportunities across the country, including in Alaska\u2019s rural and urban communities.\n\n\u201cWherever I am in Alaska, whether in our rural communities or more urban areas, I hear from countless Alaskans struggling to find affordable housing. Supply shortages and the high cost of construction are major contributors to this crisis,\u201d Sen. Sullivan said. \u201cROAD to Housing takes meaningful steps to address these challenges head on: modernizing local development and rural housing programs, streamlining burdensome federal red tape, supporting the innovative work many communities are undertaking to increase supply, including with manufactured housing, encouraging investment in housing, improving access to lending, expanding tools that can help families repair homes and maintain Alaska\u2019s existing housing stock, increasing homeownership opportunities for Americans, directing HUD to review the applicability of Build America Buy America (BABA) requirements to the HOME program, and helping more veterans make use of the housing benefits they\u2019ve earned. This legislation also builds on the progress we made in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act by complementing key economic development tools, like Opportunity Zones and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit\u2014programs that help drive private investment and expand housing development in underserved communities across our state. Together, these efforts will expand safe, affordable housing opportunities across Alaska and help more Alaskans achieve the dream of homeownership.\u201d\n\nThe 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will help unlock greater housing availability by:\n\nIncreasing the cap on banks\u2019 public welfare investments, including Housing Credits and Housing Bonds, from 15% of a bank\u2019s capital and surplus to 20%, increasing demand from investors for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, thus increasing capital investment for affordable housing construction.\n\nEstablishing a flexible Innovation Fund to support communities, including tribes and Alaska Native Corporations, working to increase housing supply and improve community infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems.\n\nReauthorizing and modernizing key federal housing programs, including the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which is used annually in Alaska to help expand affordable housing and homeownership opportunities while reducing development costs and administrative burdens.\n\nAuthorizing HUD\u2019s Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Program to provide grants to communities to maintain, protect, and stabilize manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities and including a set aside for rural and tribal communities.\n\nIncentivizing landlord participation in the Section 8 voucher program by removing red-tape for the housing choice voucher (HCV) process. In Alaska, over 4,000 families participate in the HCV program statewide and more than 2,000 rental property owners are already accepting HCVs. There is currently a waitlist for HCVs in Alaska. More landlords accepting HCVs could help reduce this waitlist.\n\nImplementing language directing HUD to review the applicability of Build America Buy America (BABA) requirements to the HOME Program. Sen. Sullivan has repeatedly advocated to HUD to exempt affordable housing programs or review the applicability of BABA requirements to affordable housing programs.\n\nThe 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will support housing repair and restoration by:\n\nAuthorizing a home repair pilot program to address Alaska\u2019s aging housing stock by providing grants and loan opportunities to help families repair homes, improve energy and water efficiency, and address health and safety hazards. The program can also support workforce training for critical home repair industries, an important need in many rural Alaska communities.\n\nStrengthening disaster recovery tools by authorizing the Community Development Block Grant\u2013Disaster Recovery program for another three years and establishing a new Long-Term Disaster Recovery Fund to support housing restoration, infrastructure rebuilding, economic revitalization, and mitigation efforts in communities impacted by catastrophic disasters, including Alaska communities rebuilding after Typhoon Halong.\n\nThe 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will cut costly, unnecessary red tape by:\n\nStreamlining federal environmental reviews to reduce unnecessary delays for housing development while maintaining appropriate protections, including simplifying review requirements for smaller housing projects and improving coordination between federal agencies.\n\nRight-sizing National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) reviews for small and infill housing projects, which will simplify the regulatory process.\n\nDirecting HUD and USDA to coordinate on joint environmental reviews for housing projects funded by both agencies.\n\nThe 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will improve veterans\u2019 access to housing by:\n\nImproving transparency and access to home loan options for veterans, including a provision that Sen. Sullivan cosponsored in the Veterans Affairs Loan Informed Disclosure (VALID) Act.\n\nExcluding veterans\u2019 disability compensation from annual income calculations under the HUD-VASH program to help more homeless veterans access Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) housing.\n\nSen. Sullivan has been a leader in the Senate on working to increase the supply of affordable housing for middle- and low-income families and individuals, notably through his Workforce Housing Tax Credit (WHTC) Act, which would establish the first-ever middle-income housing tax credit, mirroring the success of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-06-24T06:25:30Z", "2026-06-24T06:26:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-welcomes-senate-passage-of-21st-century-road-to-housing-act-including-provisions-for-alaska-june"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8401910308748484, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}