ICYMI: Pappas Meets with Housing Leaders As Trump Slow-walks “Most Significant Housing Affordability Legislation” in Decades

MANCHESTER, N.H. — In case you missed it, Congressman Chris Pappas is calling on President Trump to immediately sign the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act into law to deliver needed relief to Granite Staters facing record high housing costs. The package is the most significant housing affordability legislation in decades and includes several Pappas-led provisions that would cut red-tape making it easier to build new homes, boost America’s housing supply, and help more veterans purchase homes.

Last week, Pappas joined bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate to pass the landmark housing bill, only for President Trump to abruptly cancel the planned signing ceremony leaving the effort in limbo. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would also provide funding and cut red tape to help build more homes for the middle-class and lower the cost of housing by blocking Wall Street hedge funds and private equity firms from buying up single-family homes.

This week, Pappas and Senator Maggie Hassan met with community housing leaders in Manchester to discuss how the package would help address New Hampshire’s housing crisis. Pappas is fighting to tackle the housing crisis, lower costs for Granite Staters, and put homeownership back within reach for everyone.

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WMUR: Hassan, Pappas urge Trump to sign bipartisan housing bill

By Adam Sexton / 06.29.2026

  • Top New Hampshire Democrats are urging President Donald Trump to sign a housing bill passed by a veto-proof majority in Congress.
  • Trump has said he won’t sign the bill until Congress passes a different bill that, among other things, would require voters to show proof of citizenship.
  • U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas met Monday with housing advocates in Manchester to discuss the housing bill.
  • “We know we have to bring these costs down,” Hassan said. “This bill has a number of provisions that, over time, will help us do that. It isn’t the full solution. There is more work to do, but this is a good step forward, and now we just need the president to sign it.”
  • The housing legislation represents a major issue for Americans struggling with affordability, and it takes aim at institutional investors buying up large numbers of houses.
  • Corporate interests that own 350 or more homes would have to meet specific criteria to expand their portfolios, although lawmakers removed a requirement that corporations developing single-family homes sell them to individual homebuyers within seven years.
  • “We’ve seen this across the country where they’re buying off single-family homes with these large portfolios, outbidding private buyers that are trying to get into their first home or to find an affordable place to live, and so that’s contributing to the high cost of housing,” Pappas said. “This bill cracks down on that practice.”
  • There has been a rare moment of bipartisan unity around the bill, and even Republicans are urging the president not to entangle the legislation with the fight to raise the bar on voter ID requirements.
  • “I understand where the president is coming from. I understand the frustration. We need voter integrity in America,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Missouri. “But this is a standalone bill. It is, I think, the most formidable piece of legislation when it comes to housing in more than 20 years. I’m very frustrated, yes.”

WMUR: N.H. delegation members highlight bipartisan housing legislation that President Trump abruptly refrained from signing

By Steven Porter / 06.30.2026

  • Two members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation met Monday with stakeholders from a cross-section of groups involved in addressing a pain point that’s been top of mind for Granite Staters lately: housing affordability.
  • Senator Maggie Hassan and Representative Chris Pappas circled up with nonprofit leaders to tout bipartisan legislation, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — a widely supported proposal that President Trump tried to turn into a bargaining chip in his efforts to exert greater federal control over elections nationwide.
  • […]
  • Hassan said the housing legislation contains provisions that will help ensure veterans know they are eligible for special home loans, make it easier for federal agencies to develop housing in rural areas, and bar private equity firms from buying up single-family homes.
  • Trump called the housing bill “a yawn” on Monday, while acknowledging that the SAVE America Act likely lacks the votes needed to pass, as Politico and others reported.
  • Pappas said the housing legislation is a multi-faceted effort that will require time and energy to implement with some necessary “fine-tuning over time.”
  • Jennifer Vadney, a development director with NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire — which hosted Hassan and Pappas for Monday’s get-together with representatives from New Hampshire Housing, Housing Action NH, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Evernorth, and the New Hampshire Home Builders Association — said she expects the legislation will create more flexibility for organizations like hers to take on affordable housing projects.

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