Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have established a framework to begin streamlining environmental review, regulation and physical inspection standards related to housing, according to a memorandum of understanding they signed last week.
- The MOU is a requirement under the Streamlining Rural Housing Act section of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing bill that became law July 11. The agencies have one year to submit recommendations to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services.
- HUD and USDA combined hold the largest portfolio of multifamily housing units in the U.S., according to HUD.
Dive Insight:
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is the largest federal housing legislation in decades. Its sponsors see it as a lifeline to cities and counties struggling with affordable housing shortages and stagnant development.
This first year after ROAD’s approval will largely be dedicated to research and report-writing, much of it by HUD staff, analysis has shown. A major focus of the bill is regulatory reforms to speed up and encourage development.
The Streamlining Rural Housing Act section tasks HUD and USDA to work together to streamline environmental reviews for housing projects they fund while maintaining compliance with environmental regulations, as well as to evaluate whether a joint physical inspection process for housing projects overseen by both agencies might be feasible.
The objective is to boost the “efficiency and effectiveness” of the housing the agencies support without reducing safety, undermining environmental review standards or shifting long-term costs onto residents.
