To make housing more affordable, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Cleaver (for himself, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Fields, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2025 is a comprehensive housing reform bill that authorizes over $130 billion in new federal spending on affordable housing programs while raising estate and gift taxes on wealthy individuals to help fund these initiatives. The bill aims to increase housing supply, help first-time homebuyers, strengthen fair lending laws, and protect distressed homeowners from predatory investors.
Who Benefits and How
- First-time and first-generation homebuyers receive grants up to $25,000 (20% of purchase price) for down payment assistance
- Low and moderate-income renters and Native American communities benefit from massive new appropriations: $48 billion/year for the Housing Trust Fund, $70 billion for public housing, $2.5 billion for Native American housing
- Distressed homeowners gain new protections requiring 90-day notice before loan sales and priority access to loss mitigation options
- Housing voucher holders, LGBTQ+ individuals, and veterans gain new Fair Housing Act protections against discrimination
- Credit unions can more easily serve underserved areas
- Conservation easement holders receive expanded estate tax benefits
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Wealthy estates worth $3.5 million or more face higher estate taxes (the exemption drops from current levels to $3.5 million), with a 10% surtax on estates over $1 billion
- Grantor trusts, GRATs, and dynasty trusts face new transfer taxes, minimum 10-year terms, and elimination of generation-skipping tax exemptions
- Banks, credit unions, and nonbank mortgage lenders face expanded CRA requirements, community advisory committee mandates, and new data reporting obligations
- Distressed mortgage investors and private equity firms face restrictions on bulk purchases of foreclosed properties and non-performing loans
- Landlords and property managers must comply with expanded fair housing protections including source of income discrimination bans
- Federal taxpayers bear the cost of over $130 billion in new housing appropriations
Key Provisions
- Creates $2 billion/year grant program for local governments to reform zoning and reduce housing barriers
- Establishes down payment assistance of up to 20% of purchase price for first-time, first-generation homebuyers
- Requires 75-90% of foreclosed FHA/Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac properties to be sold to owner-occupants or nonprofits, not bulk investors
- Expands Community Reinvestment Act to cover nonbank mortgage lenders and online banks
- Adds sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, source of income, and veteran status as protected classes under Fair Housing Act
- Lowers estate tax exemption to $3.5 million, adds 10% surtax on estates over $1 billion, closes multiple estate planning loopholes including GRATs and dynasty trusts
- Requires accessibility standards for all federally-funded housing construction
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2025 aims to expand affordable housing supply, increase homeownership opportunities for first-time and first-generation buyers, strengthen fair housing enforcement, reform estate and gift taxes to fund housing programs, and improve housing accessibility.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"This comprehensive housing bill combines increased federal spending on affordable housing with tax reforms targeting wealthy estates to fund the programs. It strengthens regulations on banks, credit unions, and mortgage servicers while providing benefits to first-time homebuyers and underserved communities."
Likely Beneficiaries
- First-time and first-generation homebuyers (down payment grants up to 20% of purchase price)
- Low- and moderate-income renters (increased affordable housing supply)
- Native American tribes and Hawaiian communities (increased housing funding)
- Borrowers facing foreclosure (stronger loss mitigation protections)
- Rural communities (USDA housing program funding)
- Nonprofit housing developers and community partners (priority access to foreclosed properties)
- Credit unions serving underserved areas (expanded authority)
- Veterans' direct descendants (expanded VA loan eligibility)
Likely Burden Bearers
- High net worth individuals and their estates (increased estate taxes, new trust taxes, GRAT restrictions)
- Banks and financial institutions (expanded CRA requirements, community advisory committees, data reporting)
- Mortgage servicers (stricter non-performing loan sale requirements, loss mitigation obligations)
- Taxpayers generally (significant new appropriations totaling over $100 billion)
- Real estate investors (restrictions on bulk purchases of foreclosed properties)
- Nonbank mortgage originators (new CRA-like requirements)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- "the_board"
- → National Credit Union Administration Board
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- "the_secretary_va"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
Note: 'The Secretary' refers to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Titles I, II (except Section 206), and III; the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Section 206; and the Secretary of the Treasury in Title IV.
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A State, a unit of general local government, or an Indian tribe.
A census tract where the median sales price is lower than the median cost to acquire and rehabilitate, or build, a new dwelling unit.
A nonprofit organization as defined in section 229 of the Low-Income Housing Preservation and Resident Homeownership Act of 1990.
Any mortgage insured under FHA Title II that is secured by a single-family residential property, including the promissory note.
Each community where a regulated financial institution maintains deposit-taking branches, ATMs, retail offices, is represented by an agent, or issues significant loans.
An individual who is a first-time homebuyer, a first-generation homebuyer, and has income less than 120% (or 140% in high-cost areas) of area median income.
A homebuyer whose parents do not have present ownership interest in a principal residence and whose spouse has not had ownership interest in past 3 years.
An individual who has had no present ownership in a principal residence in the past 3 years.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology