Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act, which would cut red tape and support local solutions for addressing homelessness.
Cut red tape and support local solutions for addressing homelessness through program reform.
Occurrences
Senator Smith’s ... Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act ... included in the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025 that passed the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee unanimously.
Sec. 5505. Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act. Sec. 5506. Incentivizing local solutions to homelessness.
Evidence
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) today introduced the Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act, legislation to cut red tape and create local solutions for addressing homelessness.
ST. PAUL, MN – Minnesota housing organizations from across the state are celebrating legislation by U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, advancing to the Senate floor. Smith’s bills were included in the first comprehensive, national housing reform legislative package in over a decade, dubbed the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025, which passed the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee unanimously (24-0).
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), the top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, announced that one of her major bipartisan bills aimed at combatting America’s housing crisis was included in a package that passed the Senate in an 89-10 vote. Senator Smith’s bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act was included in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the first comprehensive housing supply legislation in 30 years.
Sen. Tina Smith and bipartisan cosponsors introduced the Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act, describing it as a way to cut red tape and create local solutions for homelessness.
Smith said the Senate Banking Committee's housing package would cut red tape and improve how homelessness is addressed in ways that work for individual communities; the release says the committee approved the package 24-0 and sent it to the Senate floor, and it lists the Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act as part of the package.
The Senate Banking Committee section-by-section summary includes Section 505, "Incentivizing Local Solutions to Homelessness," which would let states and localities receiving Emergency Solutions Grant funds seek a waiver of the 60 percent cap on spending for emergency shelter beds and street outreach.
Assessments
Smith clearly took substantial action on this promise in office: she introduced the bipartisan Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act in July 2025, advanced it through the Senate Banking Committee, and got its homelessness reform language folded into the broader ROAD to Housing package that later passed the Senate in March 2026. That shows a serious same-term legislative effort directly tied to the promise to cut red tape and support local solutions. But the evidence provided does not show final enactment into law or actual implementation of the promised program reforms, so the promised outcome was not fully delivered.
Senator Tina Smith introduced and advanced multiple pieces of legislation—including the Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act—aimed at cutting red tape and supporting local solutions to homelessness. Her efforts resulted in these reforms being included in landmark national housing supply legislation that passed the Senate. However, the evidence does not confirm final enactment into law or comprehensive delivery of all promised reforms, but it shows significant legislative progress and serious effort.