New efforts are underway to increase the availability of rental housing and reduce the financial burden on both residents and housing providers. Recent announcements from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) highlight continued efforts to channel funds toward boosting the supply of affordable housing.
HUD Actions
On June 26, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris and HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman announced that the agency is awarding $85 million in grant funding through its Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program to 21 state and local government entities. A second round of funding is expected to be announced later in the summer.
This program supports communities that are actively taking steps to remove barriers to affordable housing, such as:
- Barriers caused by outdated zoning, land use policies, or regulations
- Inefficient procedures
- Gaps in available resources for development
- Deteriorating or inadequate infrastructure
- Lack of neighborhood amenities
- Challenges to preserving existing housing stock such as increasing threats from natural hazards, redevelopment pressures or expiration of affordability requirements
Treasury Actions
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also announced continued efforts to increase housing supply and lower housing costs for renters across the country:
- A new Treasury program provided by the CDFI fund that will provide an additional $100 million over the next three years to support the financing of affordable housing;
- An effort to provide greater interest rate predictability to state and local housing finance agencies borrowing from the Federal Financing Bank to support new housing development;
- A call to action for the Federal Home Loan Banks to increase their spending on housing programs;
- A new “How-To Guide” to support state and local governments in using recovery funds provided by Treasury to construct housing; and
- An update to the Capital Magnet Fund to provide greater flexibility to CDFIs and non-profits that finance affordable housing.
Together these components aim to improve accessibility and affordability in the rental housing market.
Outlook
The National Apartment Association (NAA) continues its advocacy with Congress and the Biden administration to ensure the industry’s voice is heard and represented in federal policy conversations. We maintain that the only way to sustainably lower housing costs and create more housing security for renters is to increase housing supply through actions like the Biden Administration Housing Supply Action Plan.
These initiatives promise to address pressing issues of housing availability and affordability by helping to increase supply. NAA continues to support balanced and sustainable policies that increase rental housing supply and will monitor these programs’ potential impacts on housing providers as they unfold.