The Build Housing with Care Act of 2025 creates a new federal grant program designed to tackle two major problems at once: the shortage of affordable housing and the lack of affordable child care. The program does this by funding projects that combine housing and child care in the same location or nearby, making it easier for families to access both services.

Here's how it works: The government will give grants of up to $10 million each to organizations like nonprofits, housing developers, public housing authorities, and community groups to build, renovate, or convert buildings that house both residents and child care providers. The program prioritizes projects in areas that desperately need child care (called "child care deserts" where there are few or no licensed providers), low-income neighborhoods, and rural areas. It also gives preference to projects that serve very low-income families or partner with organizations that specialize in community development.

The bill sets aside $100 million per year from 2026 through 2031 to fund these projects. Organizations can use the money for design, planning, construction, and renovation of co-location facilities. They can also use up to 10 percent of their grant for planning and design work, and another 10 percent to get help from financial institutions that provide technical support. The government will track how well the program works by counting how many child care spots are created, how many families benefit, and how many residents actually use the child care services.

Additionally, the bill requires a study on how expensive child care is for people living in public housing and what barriers exist to building child care facilities near public housing. This research will help identify ways to make child care more affordable and accessible for low-income families.

Build Housing with Care Act of 2025

Wyden, Ron

Build Housing with Care Act of 2025This bill establishes a competitive grant program to support co-located childcare and housing facilities. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to study the availability and affordability of childcare for residents of public housing.Specifically, the Department of Housing and Urban Development must award the grants to eligible entities, which include community development financial institutions, public housing authorities, licensed childcare providers, government entities, housing developers, and consortia of such entities. Entities must use the grants for designing, planning, constructing, acquiring, renovating, or otherwise supporting new or existing housing facilities with childcare providers on the same&nbsp;premises or nearby.&nbsp;