Chip Roy Breaks With the Crowd, Calls ROAD to Housing Act a Red Flag

While many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed frustration over President Donald Trump's decision to block the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, not everyone was unhappy, including Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX).

Roy has made clear he had serious reservations about the bill long before Trump canceled the signing ceremony, and he wasn't shy about saying so.

"I don't know about you, but if they're all voting for this bill, maybe just maybe it's not the best piece of legislation," Roy said, suggesting that broad bipartisan support was itself a red flag rather than a selling point.

Starting with Roy's concerns was a significant expansion of the federal government's role in local housing decisions. He took particular issue with provisions he argued would expand Section 8 housing and impose federal zoning requirements on local communities.

In his view, Washington has no business dictating how neighborhoods are built or managed.

"The federal government, here, we don't have a massive role here, in my view, other than getting the hell out of the way," he said.

Roy's Perspective

Roy acknowledged that some parts of the bill, like streamlining permitting and removing regulatory barriers, were worthwhile. However, he argued that the bigger picture told a different story, one in which the federal government was using housing as an excuse to deepen its footprint in local communities.

His prescription for the housing crisis looked very different from the bill's proposal.

Roy then pointed to immigration enforcement, lower interest rates, and better tax policy as the real levers for increasing housing supply, not what he called "government-sponsored massive public Section Eight housing programs."

He was also skeptical of the political timing, suggesting some supporters were more interested in a campaign talking point ahead of November's midterms than a genuine policy solution.

"Let's not try to have government-sponsored massive public Section Eight housing programs and then claim a victory so you can go run on it in November. I disagree," he said.