National Housing Emergency Act of 2026

1) WHAT HAPPENED: Sen. Slotkin (D-MI) introduced S.3600 on January 8, 2026, in the 119th Congress. It was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (no further action in ~4 months). The bill text requires the President to declare a national housing emergency and use the DPA's Title III authorities to incentivize domestic production of materials for housing construction. The findings section cites a 4-million-unit housing deficit and notes housing is 45% of CPI. 2) THE MONEY TRAIL: There is NO funding in this bill. The DPA has a revolving fund ($2B+ balance as of 2025) that can be used for loan guarantees and purchase commitments without new appropriations — but invoking DPA for housing requires a Presidential determination of national emergency, which has not occurred. The bill authorizes zero dollars; any future spending would require either separate appropriations or drawing down existing DPA fund balances. Authorization-to-appropriation risk is extreme. 3) STRUCTURAL WINNERS/LOSERS: If this bill gained traction and the President invoked DPA for housing, domestic homebuilders ($PHM, $LEN) would benefit from cheaper materials procurement, and domestic steel producers (, $NUE) and building materials distributors ($BLDR) would see government-guaranteed demand. However, this is purely speculative — the bill has not had a committee hearing, no companion in the House, and no co-sponsors beyond the sponsor. The DPA has historically been used for defense, energy, and pandemic response, never for housing. Political tail risk: significant. 4) TIMELINE: This bill is in legislative purgatory. It was referred to committee 4 months ago with zero subsequent actions. For it to become law, it must pass the Senate Banking Committee, pass the full Senate with 60 votes, pass the House, and be signed by the President — then the President must actually issue a national emergency declaration under the National Emergencies Act. No realistic path in the current Congress given partisan polarization on housing policy (supply-side vs. demand-side approaches). A similar bill (Housing Crisis Response Act of 2023-2024) died in committee last Congress.