The 21st Century Road to Housing Act, a bipartisan bill, has become law despite President Trump’s delay. The law aims to address the nation’s housing affordability crisis by increasing supply and reducing costs.

Key Provisions

The law includes provisions to promote manufactured housing and office-to-apartment conversions. It also authorizes a pilot program to offer grants and forgivable loans to fix older homes that have fallen into disrepair.

The law does not address the ‘lock-in’ effect or mortgage rates, which are influenced by the Federal Reserve. Instead, it focuses on increasing the supply of affordable homes and reducing costs for homeowners and renters.

Implementation Challenges

The success of the law depends on how federal agencies execute its provisions. The law gives short-staffed federal government agencies a new workload to manage, which may limit its effectiveness.

Experts point to local zoning and red tape as the root of the slowdown in homebuilding. The law includes provisions to encourage states and local governments to adopt land-use and zoning policies that are more supportive of housing development.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.