New housing law takes effect without Trump's signature. Will it lower prices?

Experts say it will have a meaningful impact on housing costs, but not overnight.

The most sweeping federal housing bill in decades took effect Saturday morning with little fanfare after President Donald Trump refused to sign it in protest over unrelated election priorities.

The president abruptly called off a signing ceremony on Capitol Hill last month, then decided not to act on the legislation before a midnight deadline. The bill became law anyway because the president did not veto it...

... The bill includes dozens of provisions to streamline federal regulations, slim down environmental reviews, speed up home building and limit corporations from buying up single-family homes.

Dennis Shea, a housing policy expert with the Bipartisan Policy Center, said addressing housing supply shortages is a critical part of the solution.

"At the heart of the housing affordability problem is the fact that we simply have underbuilt housing by millions of homes since the Great Recession of 2007, 2008," Shea said. "No single piece of legislation coming out of Congress is going to solve the housing affordability challenge overnight. We got into this problem over many, many years, and to get out of the problem will require a significant amount of time." ...

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Leo's notes: A new federal housing law has officially taken effect, marking the most significant national housing legislation in decades. The new law represents a notable shift toward addressing the underlying causes of the nation's housing shortage by removing regulatory barriers, encouraging local land-use reforms, and expanding opportunities for new construction. While no single piece of legislation will solve decades of underbuilding, the bipartisan law provides communities with additional tools to increase housing supply over time. Its ultimate success will depend on whether states and local governments embrace the incentives, modernize zoning and permitting processes, and partner with the private sector to translate federal policy into homes on the ground.