White House Outlines Plan To Increase U.S. Housing Supply
The Biden administration has announced a new Housing Supply Action Plan that it says will close the U.S. housing supply shortfall in five years. The plan calls for:
- Improving the alignment of federal funds to reduce transaction costs and duplications;
- Increasing the annual low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) allocation cap and creating the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit;
- Finalizing LIHTC average income test regulations by the end of September;
- Strengthening Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing for multifamily development and rehabilitation, which will likely include further increases in their LIHTC equity investments;
- Incentivizing jurisdictions to explore and address regulatory barriers to affordable housing production, as well as integrating affordable housing into the U.S. Department of Transportation programs;
- Deploying new financing mechanisms to build and preserve more housing where financing gaps currently exist; and
- Working with the private sector to address supply chain challenges and improve building techniques to finish construction in 2022 on the most new homes in any year since 2006.