Schatz Secures $100 Million To Address National Housing Crisis, Help Build More Affordable Housing
Funding Included In Appropriations Bill Will Incentivize Local Communities To Cut Unnecessary Housing Regulations, Help Increase Housing Supply; Schatz Worked To Secure A $15 Million Increase In Funding For The Program From Last Year’s Appropriations Bill
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) secured the inclusion of a $100 million grant program based on his bipartisan ‘Yes In My Backyard’ legislation in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill, a $15 million increase in funding from last year. In its second year, this first-of-its-kind federal program rewards state and local governments that reform land-use policies and other local barriers that constrain the supply of affordable housing.
“We need to legalize housing and abandon the exclusionary zoning that originated during Jim Crow and continues to fuel the housing crisis today,” said Senator Schatz, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. “Government needs to focus on incentivizing housing instead of intentionally constraining the supply, which has been its mentality for far too long.”
For decades, local zoning and land use regulations as well as lack of necessary housing-related infrastructure have prevented housing production from keeping pace with population and economic growth, resulting in a nationwide housing shortage. The $100 million federal grant program, also known as the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program, will help reverse this trend by rewarding state, local, and regional jurisdictions that address exclusionary zoning practices, land use policies, and housing infrastructure to increase the supply of affordable housing. These policies include increasing density, reducing minimum lot sizes, creating transit-oriented development zones, streamlining or shortening permitting processes and timeline, expanding by-right multifamily zoned areas, allowing accessory dwelling units on lots with single family homes, eliminating or relaxing residential property height limitations, eliminating or reducing off-street parking requirements, and allowing the conversion of vacant retail and office space into residential housing.
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