American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2025

Key Points

• The bill authorizes massive funding for affordable housing, including $48 billion per year for the Housing Trust Fund over 10 years, $70 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, $4 billion for a new Middle Class Housing Emergency Fund, and $2.5 billion for Indian housing. These are the largest housing investments ever proposed in a single bill.
• A new down payment assistance program would give first-time, first-generation homebuyers grants of up to 3.5% of the home's appraised value. Eligible buyers must earn less than 120% of area median income (or 140% in high-cost areas) and their parents must not have owned a home.
• The Fair Housing Act would be expanded to ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, source of income (including housing vouchers), and veteran status — protections that don't currently exist at the federal level.
• Estate tax rates would increase significantly: the tax-free threshold drops from roughly $13 million to $3.5 million, top rates rise to 65%, and a 10% surtax applies to estates over $1 billion. New rules also close loopholes used by wealthy families to pass on assets tax-free through trusts.
• Localities could earn competitive federal grants by reforming zoning laws — such as allowing accessory dwelling units, reducing parking mandates, and permitting denser multifamily construction — to increase housing supply and bring down costs.
• Descendants of veterans who served between 1944 and 1968 and never used VA home loan benefits would temporarily gain eligibility for VA-guaranteed housing loans, addressing historical discrimination that excluded many Black veterans from using the original GI Bill's housing benefits.