Biden-Harris Administration Takes Additional Steps to Increase Housing Supply and Reduce Housing Costs Nationwide

Biden-Harris Administration Takes Additional Steps to Increase Housing Supply and Reduce Housing Costs Nationwide

Vice President Harris and Acting Secretary Todman announced funding for communities to remove barriers to housing construction and production and launch innovative strategies to address local housing needs.

WASHINGTON – Today, Vice President Kamala Harris and Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is providing $85 million in grants for the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program. ). PRO Housing aims to identify and remove barriers to producing and preserving affordable housing, as well as reducing housing costs.

PRO Housing provides grants to communities that actively take action and demonstrate progress in addressing unnecessary local barriers to housing production. Winners of the PRO Housing competition will update state and local housing plans, revise land use policies, streamline the permitting process for housing construction and take other steps to create more communities focused on housing. The grants will also be used to preserve existing affordable housing, provide development grants to create new affordable housing, and increase access to homeownership.

“President Biden and I believe that every American deserves affordable housing, so they have a roof over their head and a place to call home. That’s why we have a plan to build millions of new affordable homes in communities across the country, which will lower the cost of housing for renters and help more Americans buy a home. said Vice President Harris. “Today, I am proud to announce that we are taking a critical step forward by investing $85 million to help more than 20 communities across the country remove barriers to building more affordable housing.

Common barriers to housing identified in PRO housing applications include the high cost of land and development, lack of available units, underutilized vacant land and properties, aging housing stock, inadequate infrastructure, pressures travel, risks of extreme weather or environmental hazards and obsolete housing. , land use policies and permitting policies and processes.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris have prioritized reducing housing costs,” said Todman, acting HUD secretary. “As I travel around the country, I constantly hear people, including builders, elected officials and other stakeholders, talk about how difficult it is to build housing. That’s why I’m pleased to announce our first round of PRO Housing funding, which will provide communities with incentives to overcome their local housing barriers. This is an extension of our ongoing efforts to reduce housing costs by increasing the supply of housing.

The demand was high. HUD received considerable interest during the first round of PRO Housing funding. Applications were submitted by more than 175 communities – representing a wide variety of demographics, geographies and population sizes – across 47 states and territories. Successful applicants have demonstrated a commitment to removing barriers to housing and moving toward creating more housing-oriented communities. PRO Housing winners actively deploy strategies to boost housing supply, reform local regulations, encourage development, prevent displacement, and encourage community solutions. Given the high interest and urgent need to address housing supply, applicants will benefit from technical assistance to meet housing costs. Later this year, HUD will make an additional $100 million in funding available for the second round of the competition. The President also included an additional $100 million for this program in his FY25 budget.

“The creativity and innovation demonstrated by the communities’ housing supply proposals made it difficult to select the 21 winners. Across the country, local and community-based approaches have begun to address the housing gap,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Marion McFadden. “This funding will accelerate the number of housing units produced and rehabilitated and enable investments in community development.”

The PRO Housing Awards will enable communities to continue to overcome barriers to building and preserving housing and advancing housing opportunities. Today’s announcement builds on actions taken under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan and HUD’s Strategic Plan to Boost Housing Supply, reduce costs for families, ensure equitable development and build resilient and sustainable communities. These actions are outlined in a fact sheet released earlier today by the White House.

To highlight how each awardee addresses their local housing needs, HUD has created PRO Housing Profiles for each awardee. These profiles are available here. More information about the PRO Housing competition can be found here.

PRO HOUSING WINNERS