These bipartisan bills can help reduce homelessness in Idaho | Opinion

Visiting family and friends living across Idaho, the country and other places around the world sparks ideas and connection. It also makes it more apparent how great it is to come home. Having a lasting place to call home is key to a sense of belonging and stability for many. Congress is making progress on advancing legislation to improve the ability of Idahoans to access safe, affordable housing.

In March, the U.S. Senate passed sweeping, bipartisan legislation, titled the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, that would cut unnecessary red tape. This will help address the housing supply shortage, making it easier to build and buy homes and bring the dream of homeownership within reach for more Americans. As a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, I valued the opportunity to help shape this legislative package on behalf of Idahoans. The legislative package includes several provisions I led or co-sponsored, including:

• The Housing Supply Expansion Act would modernize the federal definition of “manufactured housing” to include modular or prefabricated homes built without a permanent chassis, expanding consumer access to more efficient and cost-effective designs.
• The Rural Housing Services Reform Act would modernize and streamline the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service to improve homeownership opportunities in rural areas.
• The Reducing Homelessness through Program Reform Act would cut red tape and encourage local solutions to address homelessness, including reforms to the Housing Choice Voucher Program and improved coordination among local entities to deliver integrated support.
• The Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act would permanently exclude veterans’ disability payments from annual income for housing assistance eligibility under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program.
• The Helping More Families Save Act would create a pilot escrow account program to automatically enroll families in HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program.

The legislation awaits further consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives.

At the end of March, I also joined Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, in introducing the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Modernization Act of 2026 (NAHASDA), comprehensive legislation to reauthorize and modernize federal housing programs serving American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. The bipartisan legislation would update and reauthorize NAHASDA, the primary federal law governing housing assistance in Indian Country, through 2033. It includes key reforms that would increase flexibility for tribes, streamline federal requirements and expand access to safe, affordable housing.

These actions follow other developments in helping to make certain that federal programs intended to assist Americans with affordable housing options are suitably accessible to military families. In January, President Donald Trump signed the Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act into law. I, along with Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), introduced the Senate version of this legislation, which was unanimously passed by both chambers of Congress. The now-law exempts veteran disability benefits from being included as income when determining eligibility for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) housing. It also increases the ability of wounded veterans to secure housing assistance for which they would have otherwise been disqualified.

These are some of the efforts underway aimed at expanding access to affordable housing and lowering costs for Idaho families seeking to achieve the American Dream of homeownership. I will continue to press for these and other improvements that make it easier to build and buy homes and bring the dream of homeownership within reach for more Americans.

Mike Crapo is a Republican who serves as Idaho’s senior U.S. senator.