A landmark housing affordability bill is headed to President Trump’s desk after winning overwhelming support in Congress this week, setting the stage for the most sweeping federal housing package in a generation. The bill aims to tackle America’s housing affordability crisis primarily through encouraging more supply, including of manufactured homes; and through encouraging local governments to reform zoning and permitting restrictions.
Housing Affordability Crisis
The high cost of living is squeezing Americans and putting homeownership, long a cornerstone of the American dream, increasingly out of reach. The bill includes a first-of-its-kind limit on private equity by prohibiting large investors from buying single-family homes.
The bill represents a major victory for manufactured homes, which are built in factories and are typically faster and cheaper to produce than traditional houses built on-site. The new housing law would eliminate the chassis requirement, which could reduce the cost of each manufactured home by $5,000 to $10,000.
Local Impact
The bill includes provisions to encourage states and local governments to adopt land use and zoning policies that are more supportive of housing development. If land-use regulations were relaxed, an extra 2.5 million housing units could be added to the United States in the next decade.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
