Federal Healthy Housing Policy: Midsummer Update

by Sarah Goodwin with Anna Plankey

As summer recess approaches and members of Congress return to their home districts and states during the month of August, federal healthy housing policy news will likely quiet down. Before activity picks back up again, we wanted to provide two midsummer policy-related updates on what the ROAD to Housing Act means for healthy housing as well as a status update on the fiscal year 2027 appropriations for the programs we track at CDC, HUD, and EPA.

New Affordable Housing Law Includes Whole-Home Repair

After several months of negotiations, a package of bipartisan affordable housing legislation, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644), became law on July 11.

Among the law’s provisions is the Whole-Home Repairs Act. This section, which had previously been introduced as a standalone law, establishes a new pilot program to provide holistic home repairs that address accessibility, safety, and energy efficiency needs in a home.

You can read the full details of the pilot here, in Section 202 of the law, starting on page 16. Some of the provisions include the following:

• Both owner-occupied and rental units are eligible for assistance.
• State and local governments will be eligible for the funding and can work with nonprofits as subrecipients to implement the program.
• Each year of the pilot, HUD will award funds to 2-10 recipients.
• Each year’s recipients must all be in different states.
• The pilot program is authorized to run until October 2031.

The National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition (NSHHC), along with many of our partners, had advocated for the passage of the Whole-Home Repairs Act in our 2025 and 2026 Hill Days. We’re thrilled to see it included in this new law and so appreciative of everyone who spent time communicating the importance of this work to their legislators!

However, the law does not include funding for this new program. So, our next step as advocates is to work with policymakers to identify and support new appropriations to fund the pilot. As we identify specific asks, we’ll keep you all updated on opportunities to engage.

FY27 Appropriations Status

Earlier this summer, the House has released all of the bills where we track appropriations; the Senate has not released any of their bills yet. Here’s what the House bills include:

• Transportation-Housing and Urban Development:
  • The Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes: $295.6 million, level from last year.
  • This includes $155 million for healthy homes, more than last year.
  • Healthy homes funding includes $30 million for OAHMP and $10 million for a financing pilot, continued from last year.
  • It does not include tech studies. However, it does still include the ability to transfer $2 million of the healthy homes funds to PDR.
• Labor-HHS:
  • Level funding for the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.
  • The National Asthma Control Program gets a $1 million increase.
  • The climate and health program is zeroed out.
• Interior-Environment:
  • Cuts Indoor Air and Radiation by $10 million, down to $16.7 million—which aligns with the president’s request.
  • Maintains funding for children and other sensitive populations—which aligns with the president’s request.
  • Cuts $32 million from toxics program (which includes lead), down to $78.8 million—slightly better than the president’s request.
  • Level funding for lead and radon categorical grants.

Congress will be out of session most of August, and then there isn’t much time after they’re back in the fall before the height of campaign season and November elections. As a result, we’re not expecting to see significant movement on appropriations before November, especially with the Senate having not even released bills yet. However, Congress is working to reconcile a continuing resolution that would prevent a government shutdown on October 1, 2026, and continue FY27 funding through early December. We’ll let you know if anything changes and how this continuing resolution if passed may affect the programs we track.

If you are interested in summer in-district advocacy, please contact Anna Plankey at anna@nshhcoalition.org, review our Advocacy FAQ, or visit our webpage, Advocacy Activity Resources.

Sarah Goodwin joined NCHH as a policy analyst in June 2017. She previously served NCHH as a policy intern, helping to establish and run the Find It, Fix It, Fund It lead action drive and its work groups. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government from American University.

Anna Plankey, Analyst, joined the National Center for Healthy Housing in 2019. Initially serving as a policy intern, she aided in the coordination of the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition’s Hill Day in February 2019 in conjunction with the Lead Poisoning Prevention and Healthy Housing Conference in Washington, DC. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History of Public Policy from University of California, Santa Barbara.