Meeks and Velázquez reintroduced the Habitable Housing Conversion Pilot Program of 2026 or the "Basement Bill." The measure would establish a 5-year pilot program to provide grants for homeowners to transform their basements into safe apartment units.
Create a five-year federal pilot program to provide grants and FHA-backed financing for homeowners to convert basements into safe, code-compliant rental units.
Occurrences
To establish a pilot program for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to evaluate the effectiveness of insuring mortgages made to finance improvements to convert basement spaces into safely habitable dwelling units, and for other purposes.
Evidence
The site’s May 15, 2026 news blurb says Meeks and Velázquez reintroduced the Habitable Housing Conversion Pilot Program of 2026, describing it as the 'Basement Bill' and saying it would establish a 5-year pilot program to provide grants for homeowners to transform basements into safe apartment units.
The bill text provides the substantive proposal: HUD would run a 5-year pilot to insure section 203(k) mortgages for basement conversions into safe, habitable rental units that meet state and local codes.
The member's official homepage, current as of June 26, 2026, shows latest news items dated June 24, 2026 and recent votes from June 23-25, 2026, but no announcement that the basement-conversion pilot was enacted or implemented.
Assessments
Meeks materially advanced the idea by reintroducing the Habitable Housing Conversion Pilot Program of 2026, and the bill text matches the promised five-year HUD/FHA-backed pilot. But the evidence in the lookback window shows only proposal/reintroduction, not enactment, implementation, or funding, so the promised outcome was not delivered.
Meeks materially advanced the proposal by introducing or reintroducing legislation matching the promise: a five-year HUD/FHA basement-conversion pilot for safe, code-compliant rental units. However, the evidence shows the measure remained a bill/reintroduction and does not show enactment or creation of the federal pilot program. Because the promised program was not delivered, but there was a serious legislative attempt, this is a failed delivery with effort credit.