S. 3968Senate119th Congress (2025-2027)In Committee

Housing for America’s Middle Class Act of 2026

AI-Generated Summary

Updated March 19, 2026 at 3:22 AM UTC

The Housing for America's Middle Class Act of 2026 directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study and report to Congress on how to define "workforce housing." The study must be completed within one year and focuses on the challenges middle‑income families face in finding affordable homes, where those challenges are most severe, and which federal housing programs currently exclude them. The goal is to create a clear federal definition that can be used to expand housing assistance for this income group.

Key Provisions

The Comptroller General must complete the GAO study and submit a report to Congress within one year of the law’s enactment.
The report must identify obstacles middle‑income households encounter when seeking affordable housing.
It must pinpoint geographic areas where housing is especially unaffordable for middle‑income families.
The report must list federal housing programs (tax credits, grants, loans) that middle‑income households cannot currently access because of income limits.
It must recommend income and other criteria to define "workforce housing" for use in federal programs.
The report must analyze how existing federal housing programs could be modified or new programs created to include workforce housing, assuming appropriate funding.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

March 3, 2026

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

March 3, 2026

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

March 3, 2026

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued March 3, 2026

119th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 3968

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 3, 2026

Mr. Ricketts introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To require the Government Accountability Office to study and recommend a definition for workforce housing.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Housing for America’s Middle Class Act of 2026.

GAO study on workforce housing

(a)

In general

Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study and submit to the Congress a report that—

(1)

identifies obstacles middle-income households face when looking to secure affordable housing;

(2)

identifies geographic areas where housing is the most unaffordable and unavailable for middle-income households;

(3)

includes a list of Federal housing programs, including Federal tax credits, grants, and loan programs, that are not available to middle-income households due to their income status, including Federal housing programs designed to promote affordability;

(4)

recommends income and other parameters to establish a clear and consistent Federal definition for the term workforce housing for use when describing the segment of housing that could be made available to such middle-income households in Federal housing programs if funding commensurate with the additional eligibility were to be made available; and

(5)

analyzes how to modify or newly develop new Federal housing programs and incentives to include workforce housing if funding commensurate with the additional eligibility were to be made available.

(b)

Middle-Income household defined

In this section, the term middle-income household means a household with an income above 80 percent but that does not exceed 120 percent of the median family income of the area, as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families.