Biden Administration Rolls Out Plan To Cut Zoning And Land Use Red Tape
A new Biden administration plan for tackling rising housing costs will take aim at municipal bureaucracy that limits construction.
The program, announced Thursday, calls for reducing land use and zoning barriers, expanding financing for affordable housing and unlocking more opportunities for commercial-to-residential conversions. The new initiatives dovetail with the administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan.
“Today's actions ... are a down payment on the historic housing investments proposed in the president's budget that would boost supply, lower costs and cut dangerous climate pollution, promote homeownership, protect renters, and promote fair housing,” the White House said in a news release.
Housing demand far exceeds the production of new homes in communities nationwide. Restrictive zoning and land use policies that dictate where and how densely housing can be built are some of the biggest culprits constraining supply, per the release.
As part of that effort, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will allocate $85M toward efforts to produce and preserve affordable housing by allowing higher-density zoning, streamlining development or reducing requirements that stifle production.
Communities acutely impacted by a lack of supply are eligible for HUD grants of up to $10M, per the release.
“Policies that actually move the needle and expand housing supply are the only real way we are going to lower the cost of housing and broaden housing availability,” National Multifamily Housing Council President Sharon Wilson Géno said in a statement issued Friday about the federal government’s program.
The HUD allocation can also be used for residential conversions, the release says. Up to 34% of office buildings in 14 North American markets are potential candidates, an April study by Avison Young found, but developers say the cost is often prohibitive and more incentives are needed.
In addition to HUD funding, money from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is available for conversions, the release said. The General Services Administration is also working to identify federal properties that could be converted, an effort the White House said has already produced 1,000 new housing units.
The administration also announced it will roll out new efforts to protect the 35% of Americans who live in rental housing. Evictions have skyrocketed since pandemic-era moratoriums expired, with rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing causing filings to surge by 50% in some major cities earlier this summer, the AP reported.
“Our nation’s rental market is defined by a patchwork of state and local laws and legal processes that leave far too many renters with little recourse when housing providers fail to comply with the law or the lease agreement,” the White House said in the statement.
The plan involves ensuring fair tenant screening practices, providing new funding for supporting tenant organizing efforts and providing more time for tenants to avoid eviction.
