2026 年，大家心中只有一个词：负担能力。提到负担能力，就不得不谈住房。超过十分之八的美国人表示，住房负担能力是他们居住地面临的问题。
There’s one word on everyone’s mind in 2026: affordability. And when speaking about affordability, it’s hard not to mention housing. More than eight in 10 Americans say housing affordability is a problem where they live.
我在家乡蒙大拿州亲眼目睹了这一点。自疫情以来，房价飙升了 66% 以上，让许多工薪家庭拥有住房的梦想变得更加遥不可及。这不仅发生在蒙大拿州。在全国各地的城市、郊区和农村社区，家庭都无力竞争住房。找一个负担得起的居住地不应该如此困难。
I’ve seen this at home in Montana. Since the pandemic, prices have jumped more than 66 percent, pushing homeownership even further out of reach for many working families. This isn’t just happening in Montana. In urban, suburban and rural communities across the country, families are unable to compete for housing. It should not be this difficult to find an affordable place to live.
联邦立法者在扭转这一趋势方面迈出了重要一步，通过了《21 世纪住房法案》，这是一个两党住房立法包，旨在扩大供应、现代化联邦住房计划，并解决全国各地家庭感到的沮丧。该法律并不完美，但它是朝着正确方向迈出的积极一步。
Federal lawmakers made significant strides to reverse this trend, passing the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing package aimed at expanding supply, modernizing federal housing programs, and addressing the frustration families feel across the country. The law is not perfect, but it’s a positive step in the right direction.
值得注意的是，该法律在不影响专业住房供应商的前提下，限制了华尔街房东可以购买的独栋住宅数量。寻找住房的家庭不应被华尔街挤在一边。
Notably, the law caps the number of single-family homes that Wall Street landlords can purchase without impacting professional housing providers. Families looking for a home should not be pushed aside by Wall Street.
最终法案的一个引人注目的特点是，它在政策上穿针引线：限制华尔街购房，同时确保专业住房供应商仍可投资翻新现有住房和建设新的出租住房，从而增加供应、降低房价。
One of the intriguing features of the final bill is that it threaded the policy needle by capping Wall Street purchases, while ensuring that professional housing providers could still invest in refurbishing existing homes and building new homes to rent, thereby increasing supply and lowering home prices.
该法案的早期版本本将禁止投资建设新的独栋出租住房。住房研究人员和政策专家警告，这种做法可能会抑制建设、减少租赁选择，并破坏增加供应的总体目标。城市研究所警告称，该条款可能会使每年新建出租住房单元至少减少 7.2 万套，而皮尤研究中心敦促立法者重新审视这一政府强制规定，称其有可能减少急需的出租住房。
A previous version of the bill would have prevented investment in building new single-family homes for rent. Housing researchers and policy experts warned that this approach could chill construction, reduce rental options, and undermine the broader goal of increasing supply. The Urban Institute warned that the provision could reduce the number of rental units built each year by at least 72,000, while Pew urged lawmakers to revisit the government-mandate, which it said risked reducing much-needed rental housing.
在我担任美国参议院银行委员会成员期间，我亲眼目睹了初衷良好的政策如何制造出阻碍住房开发的意外壁垒。当目标是让住房更加可负担时，政策制定者应当寻找消除供给障碍的途径，而非制造新的要求，让建房变得更难、成本更高。
During my time on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, I saw firsthand how well-intentioned policies can create unintended barriers to housing development. When the goal is to make housing more affordable, policymakers should be looking for ways to remove barriers to supply, not create new requirements that make it harder and more expensive to build homes.
大约34%的美国人租房居住。在蒙大拿州，这一比例为30%，无论老少家庭都在寻找可负担的住房选择。
Approximately 34 percent of Americans rent. That number is 30 percent in Montana, where families young and old are looking for affordable housing options.
打击租赁住房的政策不仅会影响专业住房提供者，还会影响比灵斯的家庭、为能源工作搬迁的工人，以及寻求灵活居住方式的老年人。这就是为什么国会最终达成了更明智的平衡，保留了我们许多人——从参议员蒂姆·斯科特（共和党-南卡罗来纳州）到参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦（民主党-马萨诸塞州）——都支持的条款。
Policies that discourage rental housing would not only affect professional housing providers. They would also affect families in Billings, workers relocating for energy jobs, and seniors seeking flexibility. That is why Congress ultimately struck a more sensible balance and preserved the pieces that many of us — from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — supported.
但工作尚未完成。在地方和州层面，分区和许可改革至关重要，要建设足够的住房以跟上人口增长。此外，州和地方还需进一步促进私人投资用于住房翻新和开发——这不仅是为了增加供给，也是出于一些对蒙大拿人来说可能不那么显而易见的原因。
But the work is not done. At the local and state level, zoning and permitting reforms are essential to build enough homes to keep up with population growth. Additionally, states and localities need to further enhance private investment in housing refurbishment and development — not only to increase supply, but also for reasons that may be less obvious to Montanans.
私人投资很大程度上依赖养老基金。这些基金投资住房并产生回报，用于退休人员退休后定期领取养老金。促进私人投资进入住房领域，确保我们照顾好蒙大拿州的关键工作者。
Private investment largely relies on pension funds. These funds invest in housing and generate returns that are used to pay pensioners regularly once they retire. Enabling private investment in housing ensures that we are taking care of Montana’s essential workers.
蒙大拿州教师退休制度和公共雇员退休制度分别管理着蒙大拿州教师和公共部门工人的数十亿美元退休基金。蒙大拿州还为警察和消防员设立了养老基金。私人投资住房是双赢局面。
The Montana Teachers’ Retirement System and the Public Employees’ Retirement System manage billions of dollars in retirement funds for Montana teachers and public-sector workers, respectively. Montana also has pension funds for police officers and firefighters. Private investment in housing is a win-win situation.
增加对住房维修和开发的投资，能够创造更多住房，帮助维持工薪家庭可负担的房价，同时确保蒙大拿州的教师、警察和消防员领取全额养老金，享受安稳的退休生活。
More investment in home repairs and development creates more homes and helps maintain affordable housing prices for working families, while ensuring that Montana’s teachers, police and firefighters receive their fully-funded pensions and a comfortable retirement.
拓展机会意味着增加可供选择的住房数量和类型，而非缩减它们。这意味着既要保护租房者，也要保护有购房意向者，同时在追究不良行为者责任的同时，不切断建设、维修和保护住房所需的资金。
Expanding opportunity means expanding the number and types of homes available, not narrowing them. It means protecting renters as well as aspiring homeowners, while holding bad actors accountable without cutting off capital needed to build, repair and preserve housing.
《21世纪住房ROAD法案》是国会倾听意见、调整立场、最终达成更好政策的罕见范例。这花费了时间，也引发了激烈辩论，但这正是立法应有的运作方式。它认识到，口号或寻找替罪羊无法解决住房负担能力问题。
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a rare example of Congress listening, adjusting, and landing on a better policy. It took time and forced heated debates, but that is how legislating should work. It recognizes that slogans or scapegoats will not solve affordability.
解决之道在于建设更多住房、翻新现有住房、保护消费者，并确保公共政策鼓励供给而非抑制供给。国会把握住了这一平衡。各州应以此为基础继续推进，而非破坏它。
It will be solved by building more homes, renovating the homes we already have, protecting consumers, and ensuring public policy encourages supply rather than discouraging it. Congress got that balance right. States should build on it, not undermine it.
乔恩·特斯特，民主党人，2007年至2025年代表蒙大拿州担任美国参议员。
Jon Tester, a Democrat, represented Montana in the U.S. Senate from 2007 to 2025.