U.S. Senators Young, Schatz introduce bill to cut regulations, increase housing options

Today, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act, legislation that would encourage local communities to cut burdensome regulations, encourage more housing options, and bring a new level of transparency to the community development process.

Currently, many communities across the U.S. are building paper walls of regulations that negatively affect and, at times, discriminate against low- and middle-income Americans seeking to live, work, and flourish in a city or town. The Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act would better ensure localities do their part to increase housing supply and make it more affordable for all Americans.

“Burdensome local zoning and land use policies can drive up housing costs in our communities and stifle the ability of Americans to move to areas of opportunity. Our bill will encourage transparency from cities, towns, and rural areas to cut harmful regulations and increase housing affordability across our nation,” said Senator Young.

“In order to reverse anti-housing policies, we need to know where they are in place and how they hurt communities. Our bill will provide HUD and the public with more transparency on policies that are stopping much-needed housing from being built,” said Senator Schatz.

The legislation would require recipients of federal Community Development Block Grants to report on whether they have already adopted less burdensome land use policies and/or to submit a plan for implementing said policies and how adopting them would benefit the jurisdiction. Some of the policies encouraged by the bill include enacting high-density single-family and multifamily zoning, allowing manufactured homes in areas zoned primarily for single-family residential homes, reducing minimum lot size, and allowing single-room occupancy development wherever multifamily housing is allowed.

The bill avoids encroaching on the rights of states and localities to set zoning policies. Instead, it conditions federal funds based on transparency regarding the rationale for choosing not to remove or reform harmful land use regulations.

In addition to Senators Young and Schatz, U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) are original co-sponsors. 

Full text of the Identifying Regulatory Barriers to Housing Supply Act can be found here.