Federal grant program targets affordable housing and child care co-location
H.R. 646 — Build Housing with Care Act of 2025 · Filed by Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) · 35 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 23, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill creates a $100 million annual grant program (2025–2030) run by HUD to help organizations build or renovate housing with on-site or nearby child care. Eligible applicants include nonprofits, housing developers, public housing agencies, and community development organizations. Grants up to $10 million each prioritize projects in child care deserts, low-income areas, rural regions, and those serving very-low-income families. The bill also directs the GAO to study child care access and affordability for public housing residents.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a straightforward federal grant program designed to address two interconnected public-policy crises—housing and child care affordability—through co-location infrastructure. It is a direct public investment in social infrastructure, not a tax carve-out, deregulation, or private subsidy.
What the text implies
- The bill's success depends on sustained appropriations; if Congress fails to fund the program at authorized levels, the infrastructure gap will persist and eligible entities may face planning costs without grant support.
- Co-location may concentrate child care in housing developments, potentially creating dependency on a single provider and limiting parental choice if the on-site provider closes or raises prices.
- The GAO study (Section 4) may reveal systemic barriers in state/local zoning or licensing laws that this bill does not directly address, creating a gap between the study's findings and the bill's remedial scope.
- Eligible entities include CDFIs that may capitalize grants into loans; if loan terms are unfavorable or default rates high, the public investment may be partially recaptured as private debt burden on residents or operators.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directly funds infrastructure to address two acute public crises—affordable housing and child care access—by enabling co-location that reduces costs and barriers for low-income families. Safeguards against resident displacement and requirements for community engagement protect vulnerable populations.
Who stands to gain
- nonprofit housing developers
- community development financial institutions
- public housing agencies
- community development corporations
- eligible child care providers
Named in the bill
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Department of the Treasury, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Department of Agriculture, Government Accountability Office (GAO), Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, Head Start Act, Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994, Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, United States Housing Act of 1937, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act — and 1 more
Where it stands
35 cosponsors: 35 Democrats.
- Jan 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 23, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a…”
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 $119,592 in lobbying spend. A filing names 18 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.
Suzanne Bonamici, the sponsor, reported $461,650 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families — $119,592 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 (14,535 characters) on Jun 3, 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.
“Federal grant program targets affordable housing and child care co-location” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr646 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.