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9,000 homes in rural Minnesota will be saved by Smith’s bill
July 14, 2026 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), the top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, announced her major bipartisan bill to preserve 400,000 rural homes across the country has became law. Smith’s Rural Housing Service Reform Act was included in a housing supply package that passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities. President Trump refused to sign the bill, but because he did not veto the legislation outright it automatically became law after 10 days of Presidential inaction.
“Without a safe, affordable place to live, nothing in your life works. Not your health, not your job, and not your education,” said Senator Smith. “The lack of affordable, decent housing in this country has been a major problem for working families for years, but with the 21st Century Road to Housing Act becoming law, we’re choosing a different path: Build more housing and protect the homes we already have from falling into disrepair. I am so proud that language I wrote to reform the Rural Housing Service and save thousands of affordable homes in rural communities is now law.”
Senator Smith’s bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act would preserve up to 400,000 affordable homes in small towns and rural communities across the country, and more than 9,000 units in Minnesota, by making commonsense updates to programs at the USDA’s Rural Housing Service for the first time in decades.
In addition to Senator Smith’s Rural Housing Service Reform Act, the package included a number of bills Senator Smith cosponsored and supported, including:
- Whole-Home Repairs Act: Authorizes a pilot program to help thousands of working families afford essential, costly home repairs through grants and forgivable loans.
- Choice in Affordable Housing Act: Expands access to federal government’s largest rental assistance program for affordable housing.
- HOME Investment Partnerships Program Reauthorization and Reform Act: Makes critical updates to the largest federal affordable housing block grants to keep pace with the rising cost of living and to make the program more efficient.
- PRICE Act: Helps preserve, protect and stabilize manufactured housing communities by permanently reauthorizing HUD’s Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement program.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act doesn’t just boost housing supply. The legislation also addresses big corporations’ stranglehold on America’s housing market by banning large institutional investors from purchasing certain single-family homes. A full list of legislative items included in the package can be found here.
Senator Smith, alongside Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) and Minnesota housing advocates, pressed for the President to sign the bill in a press conference held in the Twin Cities last week praising the bill and urging the President to sign it. You can view Senator Smith’s remarks here.
Source: Senator Tina Smith
