Bill rewards cities that cut zoning rules and ban affordable housing mandates.
H.R. 9625 — Freedom to Build Act · Filed by Mónica De La Cruz (R-TX) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill creates a 'Freedom to Build' label. HUD gives this label to cities that adopt at least three housing reforms. The reforms come from three groups: building codes, faster permits, and property rights. Cities with the label get priority for federal grants. The reforms ban rules requiring affordable units. They stop rent control and remove local wage rules.
Who it affects
Builders and real estate companies may build faster in labeled cities. Renters and home buyers might see lower prices. Low-income residents and workers lose local control over housing rules.
One thing to notice
Cities wanting federal grant money must adopt all three reform types or show enough new housing. The bill removes local power to require affordable units unless developers get extra density or fee cuts.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jul 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 9, 2026 — 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.
Words to know
- zoning — Local rules that say what can be built where and how big.
- permits — Government permission to build a new structure.
- density — Permission to build taller or bigger if the builder includes affordable units.
- rent control — Local rules that limit how much landlords can raise rent.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (12,692 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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