Fresh ideas to increase housing supply
The U.S. is short 3.8 million housing units to keep up with household formation. Exclusionary zoning policies, rooted in a history of segregation, are making it harder to meet the national demand for better and more affordable housing. While state and local leaders across the country have been stepping up to promote housing abundance, our national response to housing shortages can be bolstered by increased federal action across the White House, Congress, and agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Treasury Department.
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has partnered with Slow Boring, Learning Collider, Cornell University’s Legal Constructs Lab, and the National Zoning Atlas to crowdsource policy ideas to increase housing supply.
Developing federal incentive structures that promote the construction of higher-density housing
Incentivizing Developers to Reuse Low Income Housing Tax Credits >>
Stanley Chang, Hawaii State Senate
Redirecting Federal Housing Tax Expenditures from “Gated” Cities to “Opportunity” Cities >>
Accelerating Affordable Housing Through Market-Based Incentives >>
Aditya Ramsundar, University of Illinois, Chicago
The Supply-Side Tax Credit: An Incentive to Reduce the Cost of Affordable Housing >>
Aligning Reconstruction and Zoning >>
Deploying or expanding new financing mechanisms
Increasing Dedicated Resources for the National Housing Trust Fund >>
Courtney Cooperman, George Washington University
Exempting Affordable Housing from Private Activity Bond Volume Cap >>
Rachel Fee & Shakti Robbins-Cubas, New York Housing Conference
Expanding the Fair Housing Initiatives Program to Enforce Federal and State Housing Supply and Affordability Laws >>
Creating an FHA/VA Mortgage Program for Developers >>
Promoting housing innovation in building materials and methods
Eliminating the Code Chassis Requirement to Free Manufactured Homes from Local Discrimination and Regulatory Dead Weight >>
Andrew Justus & Alex Armlovich, Niskanen Center
Less Paperwork, More Projects: Streamlining applications for Federal funding in housing development >>
Kate Kohn, Federation of American Scientists
Unblocking mass timber by incentivizing up-to-date building codes >>
Aligning Current Policies On Infrastructure And Investments With Housing Production
Exclusionary Zoning or Highway Funds, Your Pick: A Viable Mechanism for Federal Action on Zoning >>
Prioritizing Western Water Grants that Support New Housing >>
Benjamin Smith, University of Pennsylvania
improving federal resources to measure and combat the housing crisis
Developing a Housing Production Dashboard to Aid Policymaking and Research >>
Brian Connolly, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business; Heidi Aggeler & Avilia Bueno, Root Policy Research
Harnessing Federal Programs to Improve Local Housing Permit Data Collection >>
Nicholas Marantz, University of California, Irvine
A National Housing Policy Simulator: A Plan for Modeling Policy Changes to Spur New Housing Supply >>
Ben Metcalf, Terner Center for Housing Innovation
America Needs a National Housing Loss Rate >>
Yuliya Panfil, New America
Building internal staff capacity to help HUD support pro-housing policies >>
Jenny Schuetz, Brookings Institution