Washington, D.C. — For decades, the supply of affordable housing has fallen far behind what the country needs to accommodate its growing population. With nearly half of all rental households paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent each month, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions to produce more housing. The Center for American Progress is releasing three reports with bold ideas to significantly expand the U.S. housing supply, with a special focus on helping low- and moderate-income households. The status quo is unacceptable. Now is the time for the federal government to use its fiscal resources to address the housing crisis.
The first report builds off of the Biden-Harris administration’s 2022 Housing Supply Action Plan by calling for a new competitive federal program to reward local governments that substantially reform their land use and zoning regulations to permit more infill housing. The greatest barrier to zoning reform is the opposition of entrenched local interest groups. This report calls for establishing the Building Opportunity program, which would reward local governments that adopt aggressive land use and zoning reforms to allow new housing of all types by right. Examples of reform include allowing taller apartment buildings along high-frequency transit corridors, eliminating minimum parking requirements, and allowing accessory dwelling units.
The second report calls for strengthening the affordable housing safety net by rehabilitating existing public housing, expanding the supply of public housing, and increasing the number of Housing Choice Vouchers. Additionally, the report calls for creating a new social housing program to build hundreds of thousands of housing units that would be affordable for moderate-income households. These units would be located in opportunity-rich neighborhoods with quality amenities. Moreover, they would be financially self-sustaining and affordable in perpetuity.
The third report reviews how the federal government can leverage existing federal programs to incentivize the development of affordable, sustainable, and transit-accessible housing. Together, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are delivering billions of dollars in grants, loans, and tax credits for local communities to build an equitable 100 percent clean future. This report details how to reform existing programs to maximize the climate and equity benefits.
“America is not producing enough housing, creating a heavy financial burden for millions of families who are paying too much in rent. The housing crisis acts as a drag on our overall economic growth. The ideas put forward in these three reports represent an aggressive approach to tackling this long-standing crisis. We need more housing of all types, with a special focus on affordable housing for the millions of Americans who are poorly served by our current system,” said Kevin DeGood, director of Infrastructure Policy at CAP and co-author of the reports.
Read the reports:
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sarah Nadeau at [email protected].