National Pro-Housing Bills to Support in Congress

Exclusionary land policies, including zoning, destiny restrictions, and other burdensome development regulations drive the severe housing shortage and affordability crisis. The Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) Act will encourage more thoughtful and inclusive housing development practices by requiring localities to report on and make plans to track discriminatory land-use policies. This will help cities remove obstacles that are currently stopping the construction of much-needed housing throughout the country.

The housing shortage is particularly acute in walkable, transit-served locations. While demand for walkable, transit-oriented housing has increased, housing production has not followed. The Build More Housing Near Transit Act will incentivize affordable housing to be built along future transit corridors, ensuring federal dollars are effectively leveraged to address the housing crisis. If passed, this act will spur the creation of more walkable, liveable, and equitable communities.

Senior citizens and people with disabilities face significant challenges in finding affordable housing options, as most homes do not have accommodations that meet their accessibility needs. The VITAL Act will allocate more funding towards the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program to incentivize the developers to build homes with sufficient mobility and sensory accessibility accommodations, ensuring that those with disabilities and senior citizens can live in homes that are safe, affordable, and inclusive.

The affordable housing crisis disproportionately affects low-income families, who often cannot afford to live in areas of opportunity with quality schools, healthcare, and early childcare services. Research shows that when children grow up in high opportunity areas they are more likely to have successful life outcomes. This act will create an additional 250,000 housing vouchers for families with young children to move to areas of high opportunity.

The US has a surplus of parking spaces, with an estimated three parking spaces for every car. Parking structures are expensive to construct and take up valuable land that can be used for building homes instead. By eliminating outdated parking requirements near transit stations, this act will both promote housing development near public transit, and reduce the need for cars while cutting down on pollution from transportation. We need to start prioritizing homes for people over spaces for cars!

The Housing Supply and Affordability Act (HSAA) creates a new Local Housing Policy Grant (LHPG) program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The proposed program would provide grants to states, localities, tribes, and regional municipal and county coalitions to support local efforts to expand housing supply.

To help support the goal of facilitating more home building, this act would:

Direct HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research to

• Provide technical assistance on zoning and land use
• Coordinate housing development efforts across the federal government
• Research best practices and develop non-preemptive guidelines for states to encourage housing production

Create New Grant Programs

• Digitize zoning codes by district
• Help local governments establish pre-approved designs for affordable housing units

Develop Standardized Models and Promote Best Practices

• Provide model legislation, codes, and processes for local reform, including mechanisms to encourage adoption.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH-10) and will allow taxpayers to fully deduct the cleanup costs of contaminated property in the year the costs were incurred.

The brownfield tax incentive is a powerful tool that will aid in transforming contaminated sites into thriving spaces, fostering economic growth and community well-being for generations to come. The National Brownfields Coalition has been a leading voice in advocating for the passage of this bill, and restoring this vital tax deduction is long overdue. Learn more about H.R. 815.