Biden Administration Takes Aim at Local Housing Regulations

A lack of adequate affordable housing has been on the Biden administration’s task list for some time. The Economic Report of the President sent to Congress this month has an entire chapter on the topic, called Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing. In that context, the White House suggesting something unusual — using tactics to affect local land-use regulations and zoning restrictions.

The chapter begins with some acknowledgments of the challenges to affordable housing, including that there is an estimated national shortage of 1.5 million to 3.8 million homes due to, in part, “land-use regulations and zoning restrictions that limit what can be built.”