On May 16, 2022, President Biden announced a Housing Supply Action Plan to ease the burden of housing costs over time by boosting the supply of quality housing in every community. The plan includes legislative and administrative actions that will help close America’s housing supply shortfall in 5 years, starting with the creation and preservation of hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units in the next three years¹.
The plan aims to reward jurisdictions that have reformed zoning and land-use policies with higher scores in certain federal grant processes. It also aims to deploy new financing mechanisms to build and preserve more housing where financing gaps currently exist: manufactured housing (including with chattel loans that the majority of manufactured housing purchasers rely on), accessory dwelling units (ADUs), 2-4 unit properties, and smaller multifamily buildings¹.
The plan also includes expanding and improving existing forms of federal financing, including for affordable multifamily development and preservation. This includes making Construction to Permanent loans (where one loan finances the construction but is also a long-term mortgage) more widely available by exploring the feasibility of Fannie Mae purchase of these loans; promoting the use of state, local, and Tribal government COVID-19 recovery funds to expand affordable housing supply; and announcing reforms to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), which provides credits to private investors developing affordable rental housing, and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), which provides grants to states and localities that communities use to fund a wide range of housing activities¹.
(1) President Biden Announces New Actions to Ease the Burden of Housing …. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/.
(2) Housing finance reform: The path forward gets rolling – Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/03/17/housing-finance-reform-the-path-forward-gets-rolling/.
(3) FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to …. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/25/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-actions-to-protect-renters-and-promote-rental-affordability/.
