Fixer-Upper: Congress Takes a Swing at the Housing Crisis

In a rare bipartisan push, the House passed a housing bill this week aimed at making it easier for individual Americans to buy homes and harder for Wall Street investors to snap them up. The legislation, which also passed the Senate with overwhelming support, targets a crisis where an estimated four million affordable homes are missing from the market. As ABC's Elizabeth Schulze explained, the math has simply stopped adding up for millions of would-be buyers: a new Zillow analysis found a record 242 U.S. cities where a starter home now costs a million dollars or more.

How the Bill Works

The legislation takes a two-pronged approach to the housing shortage. First, it tries to boost supply directly by providing grants to convert vacant properties into affordable housing and by cutting red tape—particularly zoning requirements that slow down new construction. Second, it takes aim at Wall Street investors who have been blamed for pricing out individual buyers. The bill restricts large institutional investors—those already owning at least 350 single-family homes—from purchasing new single-family properties. The idea, as one lawmaker put it, is that "homes are built for people, not for corporations." However, the bill carves out exceptions: large investors can still build new homes for the rental market, and smaller landlords are largely unaffected.