Housing bill to become law as federal data shows drop in homelessness

A long‑negotiated housing bill will become law without President Donald Trump’s signature, ending months of debate.

Congress sent the measure to the president’s desk on June 29, and he refused to sign it to leverage lawmakers to address restrictions on voter identification and mail-in ballots. Without a veto, the measure becomes law 10 days later, excluding Sundays, under the Constitution.

The legislative push comes as federal data shows homelessness has begun to fall nationwide.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s annual Point-In-Time (PIT) report, 745,652 people were homeless in the U.S. in 2025, including 266,320 people living on the street on a single night in January 2025. While the total number of homeless people in the U.S. has increased by 27% since 2013, the number decreased by 3% from 2024 to 2025.

Under federal law, HUD also is mandated to release another annual report on homelessness. HUD has yet to release the Annual Homelessness Assessment report (AHAR), despite legal requirements and congressional pressure. HUD did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, sponsored the bill, (HR 6644), titled “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has repeatedly said the government has a legitimate role in ensuring access to safe, affordable housing, especially when market forces fail vulnerable families. The Catholic Church recognizes housing is a basic human right that must be available to all persons so that they may lead a life that reflects their God-given dignity, U.S. bishops said.

“The necessity of housing dictates that individuals, community and religious institutions, the private sector, and the government must all work together to make safe and decent housing affordable to all, especially people who are most vulnerable,” the USCCB said in its fact sheet on affordable housing.

Catholic Charities USA has long maintained that coordinated federal, state, and local efforts, paired with community‑based ministries, can reduce homelessness when sustained over time.

In June, Catholic Charities USA praised provisions in the housing measure related to zoning reforms, increased private investment in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, a higher public welfare investment cap for banks, changes to homeless assistance programs, and the reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program.

“The rate of homelessness in the United States continues to rise. On any given night last year, roughly 650,000 people were unsheltered. That is a 12% increase compared to the prior year and the largest level of homelessness since the federal government began tracking that statistic,” Catholic Charities said in its 2024 housing report. “At the same time, there is a national shortage of more than 7 million affordable rental homes for our nation’s roughly 10.8 million extremely low-income families.”

“This represents an urgent crisis that gets ignored far too often by the government and the media,” the report added. “With so many families living on the brink, Catholic Charities USA and its member agencies are providing short- and long-term solutions.”