Legislative Assessment|September 2, 2026

The Scorecard: How Much of the Act Is Already Federal Policy

The Act proposes five reforms. Over the past twelve months, federal law and executive action have moved on four of them. One is now statute. Three rest on executive action that a future administration can reverse without Congress. This is an assessment of where each policy stands, measured against what the Act actually proposes.

Policy 1

End corporate ownership of single-family homes

Statute

70%

In place: The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, enacted July 11, 2026, bars investors controlling 350 or more single-family homes from buying additional existing homes.
Not yet reached: No divestment of the roughly 450,000 homes already held. Eight exception categories, including build-to-rent, remain open. The ban sunsets after 15 years.

Policy 2

Reduce immigration by 90% for 10 years

Executive

35%

In place: Immigrant visa issuance is down about 21% year over year. The Diversity Visa Program has been suspended since December 18, 2025. The FY2026 refugee ceiling was set at a record-low 7,500, later raised to 17,500.
Not yet reached: No statutory change. Green card issuance reached a record 1,364,090 in FY2024, so the reduction is recent and far from 90%. Every measure is reversible by proclamation.

Policy 3

End H-1B, restore H-1

Executive

30%

In place: DHS replaced the random H-1B lottery with wage-weighted selection effective February 27, 2026, giving Level 4 wages four entries and Level 1 one. H-1B visa issuance fell about 25%.
Not yet reached: The program was not terminated and H-1 was not restored. Staffing firms remain eligible and no direct-employment requirement exists. The $100,000 entry fee was vacated in June 2026.

Policy 4

End foreign ownership of residential property

Executive

15%

In place: FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Rule took effect March 1, 2026, requiring reporting of non-financed transfers to entities and trusts. USDA opened farmland disclosure rulemaking and launched a reporting portal.
Not yet reached: No federal restriction on residential purchases by non-citizens. Every federal measure is disclosure, not prohibition. The purchase restrictions that exist are state law.

Policy 5

Increase housing construction

Mixed

55%

In place: The ROAD Act directs HUD to publish state and local zoning frameworks and creates an Innovation Fund making grants of $250,000 to $10 million to jurisdictions that increase supply. Executive Order 14394 directs agencies to remove regulatory barriers.
Not yet reached: Federal funds are not reduced for jurisdictions that block development. Most provisions require agency rulemaking over 12 to 24 months and have not taken effect.

Scores assess how much of each policy's proposed mechanism is reflected in current federal law or policy, not whether the outcome has been achieved. Methodology below.^[1]

Key Takeaways

1
One of the five reforms is now federal statute. The ROAD Act's institutional-investor purchase ban became law on July 11, 2026, by margins of 85-5 and 358-32.
2
Three reforms have moved substantially, but entirely through executive action: immigration levels, H-1B selection, and real estate disclosure. None required a vote, and none survives a change of administration by default.
3
Restricting foreign purchase of residential property is the one reform with no federal action of any kind. The federal measures that exist require disclosure, not prohibition.
4
The pattern matters more than any single score. The reforms that moved fastest are the ones that needed no legislation, which is also what makes them least durable.

1^[1]

Reforms now in statute

Policy 1, enacted July 11, 2026

3^[4]

Resting on executive action

Reversible without Congress

41%^[1]

Average across five policies

Weighted equally

0^[1]

Reforms fully enacted

None reaches the Act's standard

Statute Versus Executive Action

The scores measure how far federal policy has moved. They do not measure how long that movement will last. Those are different questions, and the answer to the second one is less encouraging than the first.

What each reform rests on

Statute

1 of 5

Survives a change of administration

Executive only

3 of 5

Reversible by proclamation or rulemaking

No federal action

1 of 5

Residential purchase restriction

Sources: Congress.gov^[2]; Federal Register^[4]; FinCEN^[6]

Why the distinction is the point

The Diversity Visa Program illustrates the difference precisely. It has been suspended since December 2025, which registers as real movement toward Policy 2.^[5] But the program is established by federal law, and ending it permanently would require an act of Congress rather than an executive directive. A suspension is a policy choice by one administration. A repeal is a decision by the government. The Act proposes the second.

What the Act Adds

A reasonable objection to the Act is that events have overtaken it: if federal policy is already moving in this direction, a legislative framework is redundant. The scorecard is the answer to that objection, and it points the other way. Four of the five reforms have moved without ever being defined, bounded, or made measurable.

Definition

A 90% reduction for 10 years is a defined quantity with a defined end date. A consular pause covering 75 countries is not a level, and it has no stated duration.^[4] Policy 2 specifies both.

Durability

Three of the four reforms that moved can be reversed by the next administration without a vote. The one that cannot is the one Congress passed.^[2]

Measurement

The Act ties each policy to reported metrics and a reassessment date. Current federal action sets no housing or wage benchmark against which any of it is evaluated.

Policy Connection

The scorecard supports the Act's central claim: these five reforms are within the range of what the federal government will actually do. Four have already drawn federal action, and one drew a bipartisan supermajority in both chambers.

What is missing is not appetite. It is structure. Read the five policies for the defined version of each.

Sources & Methodology

Scoring methodology - Each policy is scored on how much of its proposed mechanism is reflected in current federal law or policy, not on whether the intended outcome has occurred. A policy scores high when the mechanism the Act specifies exists in substantially the form proposed. Partial credit reflects mechanisms that are narrower in scope, subject to exceptions, or not yet operative. Scores are the authors' assessment and are stated to the nearest 5%.
Congress.gov: H.R. 6644, 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act - Bill text and legislative history, including final passage in June 2026 and enactment on July 11, 2026
DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics: U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents, FY2024 - Annual flow report recording 1,364,090 new lawful permanent residents in FY2024
Federal Register: Weighted Selection Process for Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions - Final rule replacing the random H-1B lottery with wage-level-weighted selection, effective February 27, 2026
U.S. Department of State: Diversity Visa Program - Program status and registration schedule; the program is established by statute at INA Section 203(c)
FinCEN: Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule - Reporting requirements for non-financed transfers of residential property to entities and trusts, effective March 1, 2026

Methodology note

Scores are an assessment of policy alignment, not a prediction and not a measure of results. Housing and wage outcomes are reported separately on the Impact page. Where a measure is subject to active litigation, the score reflects its operative status as of the publication date; the $100,000 H-1B entry fee is treated as not in effect because it was vacated in June 2026 and the vacatur was left undisturbed on appeal in July 2026. This assessment will be revised as federal policy changes.

Read the five policies All analysis