Housing bill to become law as federal data shows drop in homelessness
A long‑negotiated housing bill will become law without President Trump’s signature, ending months of debate. The bill, HR 6644, titled “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” was signed into law after the president refused to sign, leveraging lawmakers on voter‑ID restrictions. Federal data shows homelessness has begun to fall nationwide, with HUD reporting 745,652 homeless people in 2025, a 3 % decrease from 2024. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA support the bill, emphasizing housing as a basic human right and calling for coordinated efforts to reduce homelessness. The bill includes provisions such as zoning reforms, increased investment in the Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit, a higher public welfare investment cap for banks, changes to homeless assistance programs, and reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant‑Disaster Recovery program.
3 months ago
The long‑negotiated “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act” (HR 6644) will become law without President Donald Trump’s signature after Congress sent it to his desk on June 29 and he declined to sign, allowing it to take effect ten days later under the Constitution’s “pocket‑veto” rule. 1
Rep. French Hill (R‑Arkansas) sponsored the bill, which includes zoning reforms, expanded Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit incentives, a higher public‑welfare investment cap for banks, updates to homeless‑assistance programs, and a reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant‑Disaster Recovery program. 1 2
HUD’s 2025 Point‑In‑Time (PIT) report recorded 745,652 people experiencing homelessness nationwide, a 3 % decline from 2024 but a 27 % increase since 2013. Of those, 266,320 were unsheltered on a single night in January 2025. 1 2
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reiterates that safe, affordable housing is a basic human right and calls for collaborative action among government, private sector, and faith communities. 1 2
Catholic Charities USA praised the bill’s provisions, noting that despite a recent rise in unsheltered individuals (about 650,000 in 2024, a 12 % increase), the nation faces a shortage of over 7 million affordable rental homes for roughly 10.8 million extremely low‑income families. The organization emphasizes the urgency of coordinated federal, state, and local efforts to address this crisis. 1 2
HUD has not yet published the required Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR), despite congressional pressure, leaving a gap in the most current homelessness data. 1 2
The bill’s enactment, combined with the modest recent decline in homelessness, reflects a bipartisan legislative effort supported by Catholic advocacy groups to expand affordable housing and reduce homelessness across the United States.*
Catholic social teaching demands state action to end homelessness
Catholic social teaching does support the principle that the state has a real, non-delegable responsibility to act so that people are not left without the basic conditions for a truly human life—of which adequate housing is a central part. At the same time, it insists on subsidiarity and shared responsibility, so that state action should not mean replacing the Church, families, and civil society, but coordinating and guaranteeing what individuals and private efforts cannot reliably secure on their own.
Catholic social teaching uses the preferential option for the poor: the poor are not a “burden” but have a special place, and society must be judged by how it treats those who are weak and vulnerable.
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church explicitly connects the preferential option with those who are “homeless” and others excluded from the conditions of full human development.
It also frames the issue of poverty as a matter of justice, calling for action rather than passive observation—because poverty (including extreme forms) contradicts the equal dignity and equal right to meaningful participation in society’s goods and opportunities.
Catholic teaching assigns the state a particular role in safeguarding the common good. In a USCCB backgrounder explicitly citing Evangelii Gaudium, the bishops note that:
“It is the responsibility of the State to safeguard and promote the common good of society… [and] plays a fundamental role, one which cannot be delegated.”
That same backgrounder includes the Catechism’s teaching on the proper function of authority: authority exists so that, in the name of the common good, it can make accessible to each person what is needed “to lead a truly human life,” including basic necessities.
Homelessness is precisely the situation in which a person is denied access to a condition required for “a truly human life.” Since housing is not merely a lifestyle preference but a foundational need for safety, family stability, health, and education, Catholic social teaching’s logic about basic human needs naturally pulls toward a duty of state action to end homelessness.
A USCCB letter to Congress argues directly from this Catholic premise:
This is important because it rules out two extremes:
The Compendium teaches that the universal destination of goods and the preferential option for the poor must be accompanied by solidarity and subsidiarity.
Subsidiarity (in Catholic moral language) means that higher levels of society should not take over what lower communities, associations, and persons can do effectively; rather, higher authority should support and empower lower levels when needed. The Compendium explicitly frames subsidiarity as a principle that helps foster initiative and development, including the capacity of communities to respond.
Applied to homelessness: Catholic social teaching would support a state duty to guarantee conditions (e.g., through housing supply, income supports, protections against discrimination, and access to basic needs), while also enabling the Church, nonprofits, and local communities to do their specific works of charity and service.
Modern Catholic teaching is also wary of treating social responsibility as “optional” or merely “welfare.” Dilexi te (Pope Leo XIV) warns against an approach where religion is treated as confined to the private sphere, and it insists Christians should advocate publicly for the common good so that the poor can live with dignity.
It also criticizes the idea that the poor should be left in poverty (or only taught to work) as a false solution—suggesting instead that integral development and effective concern are required.
So, if someone argues “the state shouldn’t get involved; charities can handle it,” Catholic teaching pushes back: inaction by states (or minimal commitment that leaves people in extreme marginalization) contradicts solidarity.
Not fully. Catholic social teaching sees Church charitable efforts as indispensable, but it does not treat charity as a substitute for justice or a reason to abandon public responsibility.
The Church’s preferential option for the poor is meant to translate into both charity and social justice, and government has its own moral obligation related to the common good—especially in ensuring basic needs are accessible to lead a “truly human life.”
A related USCCB statement about housing crisis support emphasizes that Catholics see a housing system problem requiring serious response, and it calls for policies that expand capacity to meet housing needs, including through partnerships that empower nonprofit and faith-based organizations.
Your claim is consistent with Catholic social teaching: Catholic social teaching supports state action to end homelessness because (1) homelessness is an extreme form of poverty affecting the most vulnerable, (2) the common good gives the state a responsibility that “cannot be delegated,” and (3) the Church insists on solidarity and subsidiarity together—meaning government must guarantee and enable solutions, while the Church and civil society remain active partners rather than sidelined.