The U.S. Senate Banking Committee voted unanimously to advance Sen. John Kennedy’s Build Now Act, which would incentivize new home construction by tying federal funds to cities’ rates of home construction.
During the banking committee’s first bipartisan markup of housing legislation in more than a decade, committee members approved Kennedy’s legislation as part of the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025. The package, which includes several other changes to housing policy, is now pending before the full U.S. Senate and will require the U.S. House of Representatives’ approval before reaching the president’s desk.
“Today’s unanimous Senate Banking Committee vote to pass my Build Now Act is a win for every young family in America looking to buy a home. I’m looking forward to the steps ahead for this much-needed reform, and am grateful to my Banking Committee colleagues for their support as we take on the red tape getting in the way of new home construction,” said Kennedy.
Currently, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) provides annual grants to states, cities and counties irrespective of their rate of homebuilding.
The Build Now Act would:
• Require HUD to remove 10% of CDBG funding from cities that fail to improve their rate of homebuilding above the national median rate.
• Direct HUD to proportionally reallocate those CDBG funds to cities that exceeded the national median rate of homebuilding. Under the Build Now Act, cities with the highest rates of growth would receive larger shares as funds are reallocated.
• Allow metropolitan areas two years to start building homes before HUD determines their level of CDBG funding.
The bill would not apply to cities where the median home value is below the national median or cities that issued an emergency disaster declaration in the last year.
The Niskanen Center, the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association, in addition to Harvard University Professor of Economics Edward Glaeser, support the Build Now Act.
In his role on the Senate Banking Committee, Kennedy has championed the cause of making homeownership easier for families, raising the issue frequently during recent hearings: In Jan. 2025, Kennedy questioned then-HUD Secretary nominee Scott Turner about the failures of previous affordable housing policies. During this hearing, he suggested an approach that would incentivize localities to allow more new home construction without affording excessive power to the federal government.
At today’s Banking Committee markup of the ROAD to Housing Act, Kennedy discussed his proposal, stating, “Senator Warren and I have a provision in this bill that would, I think, help generate housing in America. The most stunning statistic to me is the fact that the median age of a . . . first-time homeowner in America today is 38. Wow. That’s almost 40 [years old] before you can afford a home. . . . We’ve got a problem.”
