Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published a new brief on pro-housing land use and zoning reforms. The brief summarizes the effects of restrictive land use policies on housing supply, location, and affordability. It also highlights reforms that state and local governments can adopt to increase the supply of housing, including:

• increasing multifamily zoning
• allowing larger multifamily development by-right
• enabling adaptive reuse and conversions
• eliminating parking requirements
• reducing minimum lot sizes
• supporting equitable transit-oriented development
• streamline permitting processes and timelines

This land use and zoning-focused brief is the inaugural issue of the HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research’s (PD&R) new Policy & Practice publication, which aims to share “innovative solutions to help local policymakers and practitioners to address housing and community development challenges.”

HUD’s Fiscal Year 2023 funding bill included an $85 million set-aside within the Community Development Block Grant program, which LeadingAge supported, to encourage state and local jurisdictions to adopt zoning and land use policies and practices that allow for the expeditious expansion of affordable housing.