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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4659 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4659
To require certain grantees under title I of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 to submit a plan to track overly burdensome
land use policies, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 23, 2025
Mr. Flood (for himself and Ms. Pettersen) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require certain grantees under title I of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 to submit a plan to track overly burdensome
land use policies, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Identifying Regulatory Barriers to
Housing Supply Act''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to discourage the use of overly
burdensome land use policies and remove barriers to making housing more
affordable in order to further the original intent of the Community
Development Block Grant program.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States has a shortage of millions of homes,
contributing to a record number of cost-burdened households
across rural, urban, and suburban communities.
(2) The housing shortage is constraining the economy and
costing Americans about $2 trillion per year in lost
opportunities and lower productivity.
(3) Zoning and land use policy reforms are one part of the
solution to addressing the rising cost of housing, alongside
policies that invest in fair and affordable housing throughout
the country.
(4) The Department of Housing and Urban Development should
maintain adequate staffing levels to implement this
legislation, assist communities in overcoming zoning and land
use challenges unduly constraining housing, and support quality
and affordable housing programs serving the most vulnerable of
our nation.
SEC. 4. LAND USE PLAN.
(a) In General.--Section 104 of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
``(n) Plan To Track and Reduce Overly Burdensome Land Use
Policies.--
``(1) In general.--Prior to receipt in any fiscal year of a
grant from the Secretary under subsection (b), (d)(1), or
(d)(2)(B) of section 106, each recipient shall have prepared
and submitted, not less frequently than once during the
preceding 5-year period, in accordance with this subsection and
in such standardized form as the Secretary shall, by
regulation, prescribe, with respect to each land use policy
described in paragraph (2) that is applicable to the
jurisdiction served by the recipient, a description of--
``(A) whether the recipient has already adopted the
policy in the jurisdiction served by the recipient
within the preceding 5-year period;
``(B) the plan of the recipient to adopt and
implement the policy in that jurisdiction; and
``(C) the ways in which adopting the policy will
benefit the jurisdiction.
``(2) Land use policies.--The policies described in this
paragraph are as follows:
``(A) Expanding by-right multifamily zoned areas.
``(B) Allowing duplexes, triplexes, or fourplexes
in areas zoned primarily for single-family residential
homes.
``(C) Allowing manufactured homes in areas zoned
primarily for single-family residential homes.
``(D) Allowing multifamily development in retail,
office, and light manufacturing zones.
``(E) Allowing single-room occupancy development
wherever multifamily housing is allowed.
``(F) Reducing minimum lot size.
``(G) Ensuring historic preservation requirements
and other land use policies or requirements are
coordinated to encourage creation of housing in
historic buildings and historic districts.
``(H) Increasing the allowable floor area ratio by
allowing a higher ratio of total floor area in a
building in comparison to its lot size.
``(I) Creating transit-oriented development zones.
``(J) Streamlining or shortening permitting
processes and timelines, including through one-stop and
parallel-process permitting.
``(K) Eliminating or reducing off-street parking
requirements.
``(L) Ensuring impact and utility investment fees
accurately reflect required infrastructure needs and
related impacts on housing affordability are otherwise
mitigated.
``(M) Allowing off-site construction, including
prefabricated construction.
``(N) Reducing or eliminating minimum unit square
footage requirements.
``(O) Allowing the conversion of office units to
apartments.
``(P) Allowing the subdivision of single-family
homes into duplexes.
``(Q) Allowing accessory dwelling units, including
detached accessory dwelling units, on all lots with
single-family homes.
``(R) Establishing density bonuses.
``(S) Eliminating or relaxing residential property
height limitations.
``(T) Using property tax abatements to enable
higher density and mixed-income communities.
``(U) Donating vacant land for affordable housing
development.
``(V) Enacting other relevant high-density single-
family and multifamily zoning policies that the
recipient chooses to report.
``(3) Effect of submission.--A submission under this
subsection shall not be binding with respect to the use or
distribution of amounts received under section 106.
``(4) Acceptance or nonacceptance of plan.--The acceptance
or nonacceptance of any plan submitted under this subsection in
which the information required under this subsection is
provided is not an endorsement or approval of the plan,
policies, or methodologies, or lack thereof.
``(5) Prohibition on use of information for enforcement.--
Information provided by a recipient to the Secretary under this
subsection may not be used as the basis for any enforcement
action.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The requirements under subsection (n) of
section 104 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42
U.S.C. 5304), as added by subsection (a), shall--
(1) take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date
of enactment of this Act; and
(2) apply to recipients of a grant under subsection (b),
(d)(1), or (d)(2)(B) of section 106 of the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306) before, on,
and after such date.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
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