Housing Supply

A federal housing bill passed by strong majorities in both houses of Congress marks the first major overhaul of housing legislation in over 30 years. It awaits the president’s signature.

Laws designed to ease regulations that limit housing diversity and supply are passing in states around the country. Affordable housing advocates in four states talked with us about the coalitions that have come together, and how they might fit within the larger advocacy framework.

Housing funding programs are notoriously fragmented. One way to make limited housing dollars go further is to improve the systems that distribute them.

Two bills passed with rare 80-percent-plus majorities in the Senate and House appear to be headed to a joint conference committee. The outcome could be a broad update to federal housing and community development rules—or it all might fall apart.

To maintain older housing stock, aligning programs to address building deterioration before it is severe offers big payoffs, preserving both homes and housing affordability.​​

Zoning reform measures have divided tenant advocates in New York. Yet loosening the city’s anti-housing regime is essential if we ever want to build social housing at scale.

The Mount Laurel Doctrine is credited with helping to create 75,000 affordable homes in New Jersey. But, of course, it hasn’t been a simple panacea either.

Many affordable housing developers worry Trump’s proposed taxes on imports and crackdown on immigration will be detrimental to the industry. Others hope deregulation reduces development costs enough to offset those effects. What’s the most likely outcome?

A common refrain heard by locals opposed to new housing developments is that area schools can’t absorb the increase in students they’ll bring. As the nation approaches an “enrollment cliff,” the data tells a different story.

Housing and policy experts agree that LIHTC has successfully increased the supply of affordable housing. But they also believe there’s room for improvement.

The city is growing fast and building a lot of housing. But the new housing isn’t keeping pace with the need, especially for high-income and extremely low-income earners.

Strict zoning policies keep housing unaffordable. But there are strategies governments can implement to change exclusionary housing policies and promote the construction of more affordable housing.