White House Announces New Steps for Housing Supply Action Plan
The Biden-Harris administration recently announced new steps to achieve the goals of the Housing Supply Action Plan, which aims to close the housing supply shortfall in five years.
The new steps seek to reduce barriers to affordable housing construction and preservation, and to make it easier to build affordable housing. They include:
- Finalizing regulations that make it easier to build mixed-income housing, housing that includes very-low-income tenants, and housing in sparsely populated rural areas by reforming the income guidelines for the main source of financing for affordable housing — Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs).
- Extending LIHTC deadlines to ensure that affordable housing projects delayed by public health, economic, and supply-chain issues can be built as expeditiously as possible and still qualify for LIHTCs.
- Reforming and streamlining a financing program at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that will make it easier to build homes for rent by providing more affordable financing for multifamily housing construction.
- Continuing to promote more housing options near transit and other modes of transportation, coordination of transportation and housing planning, and rewarding jurisdictions that have removed barriers to housing development.
As part of the plan, the Biden administration urges Congress to support the construction and preservation of affordable housing; to expand rental assistance ; to help aspiring homeowners with down payment assistance; and to help create a more equitable housing market.
The administration also urges state and local governments to reduce needless barriers to housing production, especially restrictive zoning and land use regulations.
To learn more about the progress of the Housing Supply Action Plan, read the full announcement.
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