H.R. 4659

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4659 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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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