The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) became law on July 11, 2026, after passing Congress on June 23. It is one of the largest federal housing‑supply packages in decades and includes more than 40 sections across 12 titles

The major new U.S. housing law in 2026 is the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, enacted July 11, 2026, which expands housing supply, limits large institutional home purchases, streamlines voucher inspections, and promotes affordable construction.

Overview of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (2026)

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) became law on July 11, 2026, after passing Congress on June 23. It is one of the largest federal housing‑supply packages in decades and includes more than 40 sections across 12 titles.

Key Federal Provisions

• Increasing Housing Supply:
  Reduces regulatory barriers, encourages zoning reform, and incentivizes local governments to allow more housing construction. 
• Institutional Investor Restrictions:
  Limits purchases of new single‑family homes by large institutional investors owning 350+ homes, with exceptions for build‑to‑rent. 
• Voucher Inspection Streamlining:
  Allows units already inspected under LIHTC, HOME, or USDA programs to satisfy Housing Choice Voucher inspections, reducing delays. 
• Whole‑Home Repair Pilot:
  Grants and forgivable loans for repairs and modifications for homeowners and landlords. 
• Small‑Dollar Mortgage Expansion:
  FHA pilot for mortgages ≤100,000 USD and CFPB review of lending rules to improve access in lower‑cost markets. 
• Manufactured & Modular Housing Reforms:
  Removes permanent chassis requirement, updates financing limits, and expands modular housing financing. 
• CDBG Flexibility:
  Allows CDBG funds to support new affordable housing construction and ties some funding to local production performance. 

House Amendment Differences (May 2026)

The House amendment to the Act introduced several changes:

• Removed six sections (e.g., lifting RAD cap, permanent CDBG‑DR authorization).
• Restored 18 sections from the Housing for the 21st Century Act, including new PHA oversight rules.
• Modified institutional investor restrictions by removing the seven‑year forced divestiture requirement.
• Added a requirement for CDBG grantees to publish databases of undeveloped public land.
  

Related Legislation: Housing for the 21st Century Act (2026)

Passed by the House in February 2026, this act overlaps heavily with the ROAD Act and includes:

• Land‑use policy guidelines and best practices.
• Streamlined environmental review processes.
• Adjusted FHA multifamily loan limits.
• GAO study on workforce housing.
  

State‑Level Housing Reforms in 2026

States also advanced significant housing reforms:

Arizona (2026)

• SB1431: Prohibits cities from requiring HOAs or aesthetic standards for single‑family homes; prevents permit delays based on such requirements.
• SB1787: Codifies Sheetz v. El Dorado by requiring individualized determinations of exactions (vetoed April 7, 2026).
  

California (2026)

• AB1070: Studies shifting missing‑middle housing to residential building code.
• AB1294: Creates uniform permit applications and prevents incomplete‑permit classifications.
• SB1014 & SB1116: Streamline urban infill townhome production and infrastructure requirement disclosures.
  

Summary

The year 2026 saw sweeping federal and state housing reforms centered on expanding supply, reducing regulatory barriers, limiting institutional investor dominance, and improving affordability.

Sources: housingaffordabilityinstitute.org , CNBC , Congress.gov , bipartisanpolicy.org , narpm.org , copilot

Story by Adam Palasciano

 Contribution limits for 401(k)s and similar retirement accounts are increasing

The IRS raised employee contribution limits for 401(k)s, 403(b)s, governmental 457 plans, and the federal Thrift Savings Plan to $24,500 for 2026, up from $23,500 in 2025. Workers age 50 and older can make catch-up contributions of $8,000, up from $7,500 in 2025, bringing their total annual contribution limit to $32,500.

In addition, participants ages 60 through 63 may qualify for an even higher catch-up limit of $11,250 instead of $8,000, under SECURE 2.0 rules. These higher limits can help older workers accelerate savings in the final years before retirement.

Maximum contributions for IRAs will also increase

IRA contribution limits rise to $7,500 for 2026, compared with $7,000 in 2025. The catch-up contribution for individuals age 50 and older increases to $1,100, up from $1,000 in 2025.

This adjustment reflects inflation indexing introduced under SECURE 2.0 rules. While IRAs have lower limits than workplace plans, the increase still expands tax-advantaged saving opportunities for retirees and late-career workers.

New paper statement requirements

Starting in 2026, defined contribution (DC) retirement plans must provide participants with at least one paper statement per year unless electronic delivery is explicitly chosen. Meanwhile, defined benefit (DB) plans must issue paper statements at least once every three years.The rule aims to ensure participants receive clear, accessible information about their retirement balances. For retirees, paper statements may improve oversight and reduce the risk of missed account changes.

SS COLA will increase benefits

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits will rise by 2.8% in 2026 thanks to the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). This change means increased monthly payments for roughly 71 million Social Security recipients and 7.5 million SSI recipients next year. Increased benefits can modestly improve retirement income. However, they may also increase taxable income for some households, which can make retirement account withdrawals and tax planning very important.

The standard deduction is going up

For tax year 2026, the standard deduction increases to $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and surviving spouses, up from $31,500 in 2025. Single filers and those married filing separately will see the deduction rise to $16,100, up from $15,750 in 2025, while heads of household receive a $24,150 deduction, up from $23,625 in 2025.

A higher standard deduction could reduce taxable retirement income for filers who do not itemize. This change may also affect how retirees sequence withdrawals from taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts.

How these updates could influence withdrawal timing

IRS adjustments in 2026 may subtly affect when retirees choose to withdraw from different types of accounts, and changes to contribution limits may shift taxable income from year to year.

Reviewing withdrawal timing across taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts can help maintain flexibility. Even small adjustments may reduce tax drag over a long retirement horizon.

Bottom line

The IRS changes taking effect in 2026 touch nearly every stage of retirement — from final contribution years to benefit collection and tax reporting. Higher limits, updated deductions, and benefit adjustments can subtly shift how retirement income is taxed and managed.

Understanding how these rules work together can help retirees align withdrawals, savings, and timing decisions more effectively within a long-term retirement plan.

More from FinanceBuzz Money

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the most sweeping affirmation of rights for the disabled in American history at the time, into law.

As disability rights attorney Arlene Mayerson would later write, the story of the ADA began “when people with disabilities began to challenge societal barriers that excluded them from their communities, and when parents of children with disabilities began to fight against the exclusion and segregation of their children.” Activists explicitly compared their struggle to the Civil Rights movement, arguing that without federal requirements in place, the disabled faced discrimination both as patrons of public spaces and businesses and in seeking employment. In 1986, the National Council on Disability, an independent government agency, issued a report that reached the same conclusion, highlighting the many gaps in federal law that made full participation in society and equal opportunities for employment impossible for many disabled Americans.

Source: history.com for the complete article

A Look Back … The National Security Act of 1947
President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 (P.L. 80-235, 61 Stat 496) on July 26, 1947.

The act – an intricate series of compromises – took well over a year to craft. It remained the charter of the U.S. national security establishment until significantly altered with the passage of the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004, which created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
This landmark legislation reorganized and modernized the US armed forces, foreign policy, and the Intelligence Community apparatus. It directed a major reorganization of the foreign policy and military establishments of the US government. And it created many of the institutions that US presidents would find useful when formulating and implementing foreign policy.

A Brief Overview of the Act
The act:
Established the National Security Council (NSC)
Merged the War and Navy departments into the National Military Establishment (NME) headed by the secretary of defense, and
Recognized the US Air Force as an independent service from the Army.
Initially each of the three service secretaries maintained quasi-cabinet status, but the act was amended on August 10, 1949 to formalize their subordination to the secretary of defense. At the same time the NME was renamed the Department of Defense.
In the intelligence field, the act ratified President Truman’s creation (in 1946) of the post of Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and transformed the Central Intelligence Group into the statutory Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency.
Most of these provisions prompted sharp debates in the Executive Branch and Congress. Several compromises were struck in order for the act to win passage. These compromises would have far-reaching im

President Truman’s Goals:
Unify the Armed Services & Reform Intelligence
President Truman’s main goal in guiding this legislation through Congress was to modernize the nation’s “antiquated defense setup” by unifying the armed services under a civilian chief. Intelligence reform was a secondary goal, and the White House kept the bill’s passages on intelligence as brief as possible to ensure that its details did not hamper prospects for military unification. This tactic almost backfired.
When the president sent his bill forward in February 1947, the brevity of its intelligence provisions caused Congressional scrutiny. More than a few members of Congress read the bill with concerns about its proposed concentration of military power.
They also eventually debated almost every word of its bill’s intelligence section. Some members argued that the DCI and the new CIA could become a menace to civil liberties–an “American Gestapo.” Administration witnesses alleviated this concern by reminding Congress that the Agency’s authorized mission would be foreign intelligence.

The Act Establishes the Role for CIA
When lawmakers finished editing the section on intelligence, however, the language managed to summarize and ratify most of the crucial arrangements already made by the Truman administration. The National Security Act would:
authorize a Central Intelligence Agency (but leave the powers and duties of the Agency’s head for a separate bill to enumerate);
that CIA would be an independent agency under the supervision of the NSC;
that CIA would conduct both analysis and clandestine activities, but would have no policymaking role and no law enforcement powers;
and, finally, that the DCI would be confirmed by the Senate and could be either a civilian or an officer on detail from his home service.
The legislation gave America something new; no other nation had structured its foreign intelligence establishment in quite the same way.
The CIA would be an independent, central agency, overseeing strategic analysis and coordinating clandestine activities abroad. It would not be a controlling agency. The CIA would both rival and complement the efforts of the departmental intelligence organizations. This prescription of coordination without control guaranteed competition as the CIA and the departmental agencies pursued common targets, but it also fostered a healthy exchange of views and abilities.
What the act did not do, however, was almost as important as what it did. It helped ensure that American intelligence remained a loose confederation of agencies lacking strong direction from either civilian or military decisionmakers. President Truman had endorsed the Army and Navy view that “every department required its own intelligence.” The National Security Act left this concession intact. Only later would the Defense Intelligence Agency be created to coordinate military intelligence.

Separation Between Foreign & Domestic Intelligence
The act also made a crucial concession to members concerned about threats to civil liberties. It drew a bright line between foreign and domestic intelligence and assigning these realms, in effect, to the CIA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, respectively. The CIA, furthermore, would have no “police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers,” according to the act.

The importance of the National Security Act cannot be overstated. It was a central document in U.S. Cold War policy and reflected the nation’s acceptance of its position as a world leader.

Historical Document
Posted: Jul 31, 2008 10:37 AM
Last Updated: Apr 30, 2013 12:06 PM

Applications for the Intelligence Community.

 

Cia.gov

Source: on this day.com