Trump cancels signing of landmark bipartisan bill aimed at lowering housing costs

Trump cancels signing of landmark bipartisan bill aimed at lowering housing costsImage source, Getty ImagesByAna FaguyWashingtonPublished12 minutes agoUS President Donald Trump has cancelled the signing of a landmark bill aimed at lowering Americans' housing costs. Both chambers of Congress earlier approved the legislation in a rare bipartisan move, signalling how pressing the issue has become for American voters across the political divide. Trump wrote on social media that he would not sign the bill until a separate law on stringent voter ID requirements is passed. But unless the president vetoes the housing bill - or Congress adjourns - it will become law after ten days. The bill, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, has two key aims: reducing housing costs and increasing housing supply. Experts have described the bill as the most comprehensive action from Congress on housing policy in the 21st century. It includes more than 40 provisions that target many housing-related issues. But hours before he was expected to formalise its provisions into law, Trump posted on social media, saying: "Today's Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency."Housing has become a major issue in the US, with 89% of voters from across the political spectrum wanting action from Congress to make housing more affordable, according to a survey taken by the Bipartisan Policy Center this spring. "Legislators and their staff really did their homework here to try to put together a package that was going to try to address a lot of concerns at once," said David Gonzalez Rice, of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).Among the provisions in the bill are efforts to make it easier to build homes and limits on how many single-family homes institutional investors can buy nationwide.With a shortfall of more than four million hous...