119-hr4659

[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.
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