Congress funds blighted-building conversion to affordable housing
H.R. 5591 — RESIDE Act · Filed by Sam Liccardo (D-CA) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 26, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a 5-year pilot program (2027–2031) allowing HUD to award $100 million annually in grants to local housing authorities to convert abandoned commercial buildings (warehouses, factories, malls, hotels) into affordable housing for households earning up to 100–120% of area median income. Grants range from $1–10 million per project and prioritize economically distressed areas, opportunity zones, and jurisdictions that have reduced regulatory barriers to conversion. The program is funded from excess HOME Investment Partnerships Program money and does not reduce existing formula allocations to communities.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a competitive grant program to convert blighted commercial real estate into affordable housing. It is a straightforward public-housing initiative with no hidden riders or private carve-outs.
What the text implies
- The waiver authority (Section 8) allows HUD to bypass statutes and regulations except fair housing, labor, and environment — this could permit waivers of accessibility standards (ADA), historic preservation, or local zoning if HUD deems it necessary for conversion projects.
- Grants are contingent on HOME program funding exceeding $1.35 billion annually; if HOME funding drops, the pilot shrinks or disappears, creating uncertainty for long-term project planning.
- Priority for jurisdictions that have 'reduced regulatory barriers' may incentivize local governments to weaken building codes or safety ordinances, though the bill explicitly excludes safety/habitability ordinances from this definition.
- The pilot terminates after 2031 unless reauthorized; converted housing units remain subject to HOME program affordability restrictions, but the long-term funding model for maintenance and operations is not addressed.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directly funds affordable housing creation in blighted areas without cutting existing housing programs, prioritizes low-to-moderate-income households, and includes labor and environmental protections. The waiver authority is broad but explicitly carves out fair housing, nondiscrimination, and labor standards, limiting the risk of regulatory capture.
Who stands to gain
- Local housing authorities and participating jurisdictions (grant recipients)
- Construction and real estate development firms (contractors hired for conversion projects)
- Community land trusts (eligible use of grant funds)
Named in the bill
HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development), HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, Qualified Opportunity Zones (IRC Section 1400Z-1), Community land trusts
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Sep 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $460,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 15 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Sam Liccardo, the sponsor, reported $724,267 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- International Council of Shopping Centers — $460,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,543 characters) on Aug 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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