White House Launches Additional Initiatives to Boost Affordable Housing
On August 13, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced several initiatives aimed at increasing housing supply, lowering costs and removing barriers to housing construction.
On August 13, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced several initiatives aimed at increasing housing supply, lowering costs and removing barriers to housing construction.
One of the key initiatives is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) grant program. This program is designed to support state and local governments in removing barriers to affordable housing, including through reforming the housing permitting process.
In June 2024, the first $85 million in PRO Housing grants was awarded to 21 communities, and HUD announced on August 13, 2024, an additional $100 million in funding.
These funds are being used to accelerate local efforts to reform permitting processes, including expediting approvals, increasing by-right permitting, streamlining environmental reviews and creating clear, objective guidelines for developers.
Examples of awarded projects include:
- Expediting the permitting approval process for income-restricting housing projects in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Streamlining permitting requirements for affordable housing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Creating regulatory toolkits to improve consistency of housing development and building permits in Rhode Island.
- Expanding staffing capacity to fast-track the review of affordable housing development projects in Denver, Colorado.
- Facilitating adaptive reuse and commercial to residential conversions through an analysis of barriers, code updates and providing best practice templates by New York City, Denver and the Metro Washington Council of Governments.
PRO Housing Grant: Important Dates
The deadline for submitting PRO Housing grant applications is October 15, 2024, at 11:59 pm ET on Grants.gov.
The notice of funding opportunity is currently available here. Additional assistance and questions can be sent to Kimberly Nash a CDBG-PROHousing@HUD.gov.
Grant Assistance and Resources Through the International Code Council
If you need help understanding how to prepare for the federal grant application process or assistance writing your grant, please contact Stella Carr at energygrants@iccsafe.org.
To learn more about additional federal grant opportunities and how the International Code Council can assist, click here.
About the Author
The International Code Council is a nonprofit association that provides a wide range of building safety solutions, including product evaluation, accreditation, certification, codification and training. It develops model codes and standards used worldwide to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures.
