Last week, after months of negotiations, both chambers of Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and the President is expected to sign it into law in the coming days. This new bipartisan housing reform legislation seeks to address structural problems in the housing market and to lower housing costs in the long term.

This law is a major bipartisan achievement that could represent a turning point for how the federal government approaches the national housing crisis. If implemented intentionally, this law could lay the foundation for a broader national housing affordability strategy.

However, the real work for the federal government begins now. Enacting the legislation’s directives will require expanding, not contracting, federal agency capacity and providing significant new investments to build the millions of housing units needed.

For now, this legislation represents an on-ramp to addressing the nation’s housing affordability crisis. While it could have significant effects on housing supply and affordability, its impact will depend heavily on the federal government’s capacity, the market’s reaction, state and local governments’ response, and Congress’s political will for further investment in the housing market.

Here, we chart the road ahead, from implementation to future strategic steps for bipartisan housing reform, that will help shape how much this legislation improves housing affordability for everyday Americans.

Bipartisan Housing Reform Through ROAD Will Enable the Market to Expand Housing Supply

Housing affordability cannot be accomplished overnight. ROAD pulls the federal government’s levers to increase state and local governments’ capacity and remove barriers for the private sector—from housing developers, to mortgage lenders, to community banks.

Among its many provisions, the legislation includes incentives to unlock housing production capacity through state and local zoning, land-use, and permitting reforms, including eliminating the chassis requirement and providing grants for housing planning. It also takes steps to expand and facilitate capital for housing construction, rehabilitation, and purchase, such as by raising loan limits for multifamily and manufactured housing and tackling barriers to small-balance mortgage origination. Lastly, it seeks to reform housing assistance programs, including increasing oversight of homeownership counseling programs and streamlining the Section 8 program.

Read the full article about bipartisan housing reform by Aniket Mehrotra, Yonah Freemark, and Todd Hill at Urban Institute.