Zach Nunn Fights to Lower Housing Costs
This week, House Republicans passed bipartisan legislation to tackle the housing shortage and address affordability issues for homebuyers.
The bill also included Zach Nunn’s bipartisan, commonsense priorities to increase housing opportunities in rural communities and block Wall Street from buying up housing from those who really need it.
Read more about the legislation here or excerpts below.
US House clears housing affordability bill with Nunn’s rural measures
Marissa Payne
Des Moines Register
May 22, 2026
Landmark housing affordability legislation supported by Iowa’s U.S. House lawmakers has cleared the chamber with provisions led by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn geared toward rural housing.
[…]
The bill expands loans to build housing, prods local governments to relax permitting rules, expands manufactured housing and limits corporate investors’ ownership of single-family homes.
[…]
In an interview May 21, Nunn touted his bipartisan efforts to advance the legislation. The Ankeny Republican, who is running for reelection in south-central Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, said the bill represented “generational change for anyone who gets into a home” while the nation grapples with a severe housing shortage and a dwindling pipeline of future homebuyers.
“This isn’t a red or blue issue,” Nunn said. “This is a ‘let’s help American’ issue.”
[…]
Rural housing would get a boost
The legislation included Nunn’s Rural Housing Service Reform Act, the latest iteration of a yearslong effort to improve federal rural housing programs and boost rural communities’ housing stock.
That contained provisions to offer U.S. Department of Agriculture-financed affordable rental housing to spur construction; modernize USDA technology and staffing to accelerate applications, improve oversight and prevent fraud in the system; and expand home repair grants and financing for rural households to help maintain aging housing stock.
[…]
Nunn said the bill removes “outdated laws and restrictions” to bring down housing costs, such as a requirement that every manufactured home be built on a heavy-duty metal frame to ensure it could be transported, even though most are placed on permanent foundations and are never moved again.
“This is a good not only pathway for folks to get into their first home,” Nunn said. “It’s also a smart pathway for folks who are looking maybe at the last home they’re going to be in as well.”
[…]
Bill cracks down on Wall Street investors buying up homes
The bill would place limits on large Wall Street investment firms buying up single-family homes — an issue that has gained traction since a Trump executive order directed federal agencies to restrict corporate home purchases to ease affordability constraints on homeowners.
“I think we exceeded the president’s intent of not having Wall Street buy Middle America, but we also didn’t take away affordable real properties for Middle America either,” Nunn said.