The National Apartment Association (NAA) and National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) applaud today’s announcement by the Biden administration, emphasizing additional steps they are taking to execute the Housing Supply Action Plan goals they unveiled last May.
We are encouraged that the Biden administration recognizes that the federal government can play a meaningful role in helping create badly needed housing and is taking action. In fact, according to research by Hoyt Advisory Services, the U.S. needs to produce 4.3 million more apartments by 2035 to keep up with demand. That supply gap is a primary contributor to the nation’s housing affordability crisis.
Specific actions announced include:
- Finalizing “income averaging” regulations long advocated by NMHC and NAA, which will make it easier to build mixed-income housing with federal subsidies;
- Extending the deadline to complete housing projects subsidized by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) but delayed by the pandemic and supply chain disruptions.
- Reforming and streamlining Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing programs to provide more affordable financing for multifamily housing construction; and
- Finalize a rule that allows for averaging incomes to comply with LIHTC rules.
In addition, the Administration will expand federal financing for transit-oriented development (TOD) and affordable housing. It will also promote more housing options near transit, coordinate transportation and housing planning and reward jurisdictions that have removed barriers to housing development.
NAA and NMHC have long called for policies that promote improvements in TOD that stimulate new affordable development through density bonuses, fast-track review and by-right development.
Notably, the Administration will award more than 19,000 new Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). In addition to increasing our housing supply, NAA and NMHC have long advocated for increased funding for HCV program administration and housing subsidies to better support households who cannot afford market-rate housing, as well as reforms to the HCV program to enable greater private participation.
NAA and NMHC’s initial statement on the Biden administration Housing Supply Action Plan is available here.
