II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3216 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to include affordable housing 

incentives in certain capital investment grants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2023 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to include affordable 

housing incentives in certain capital investment grants, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Build More Housing 

5 Near Transit Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AFFORDABLE HOUSING INCENTIVES IN CAPITAL IN7 VESTMENT GRANTS. 

8 Section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, is 

9 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)— 

2 (A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as 

3 paragraph (7); and 

4 (B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(6) PRO-HOUSING POLICY.—The term ‘pro7 housing policy’— 

8 ‘‘(A) means any State or local action that 

9 will remove regulatory barriers to the construc10 tion or preservation of housing units, including 

11 affordable housing units; and 

12 ‘‘(B) shall include any State or local action 

13 that— 

14 ‘‘(i) reduces or eliminates parking 

15 minimums; 

16 ‘‘(ii) establishes a by-right approval 

17 process for multi-family housing under 

18 which land use development approval is 

19 limited to determining that the develop20 ment meets objective zoning and design 

21 standards that— 

22 ‘‘(I) involve no subjective judg23 ment by a public official; 

24 ‘‘(II) are uniformly verifiable by 

25 reference to an external and uniform 


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1 benchmark or criterion available to 

2 both the land use developer and the 

3 public official prior to submission; and 

4 ‘‘(III) include only such stand5 ards as are published and adopted by 

6 ordinance or resolution by a jurisdic7 tion before submission of a develop8 ment application; 

9 ‘‘(iii) reduces or eliminates minimum 

10 lot sizes; 

11 ‘‘(iv) commits substantial publicly-held 

12 real property to the development or preser13 vation of housing that includes a substan14 tial number of dwelling units affordable to 

15 low-income households; or 

16 ‘‘(v) eliminates or raises residential 

17 property height limits or increases the 

18 number of dwelling units permitted to be 

19 constructed under a by-right approval 

20 process; and 

21 ‘‘(vi) carries out other policies as de22 termined by the Secretary, in consultation 

23 with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

24 Development.’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (g)(2), by adding at the end 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(D) ELIGIBILITY FOR ADJUSTMENT OF

4 RATING FOR PROJECT JUSTIFICATION CRITERIA

5 FOR PRO-HOUSING POLICIES.—In evaluating 

6 and rating a project as a whole for project jus7 tification under subparagraph (A), the Sec8 retary may increase 1 point on the 5-point scale 

9 (high, medium-high, medium, medium-low, or 

10 low) the rating of a project if the applicant sub11 mits documented evidence of pro-housing poli12 cies for areas located within walking distance 

13 of, and accessible to, transit facilities along the 

14 project route. 

15 ‘‘(E) CONSULTATION.—In awarding the in16 creased rating described in subparagraph (D), 

17 the Secretary shall consult with the Secretary 

18 of Housing and Urban Development to develop 

19 the methodology to evaluate, as feasible, the ex20 tent to which the pro-housing policies docu21 mented by the applicant will result, through 

22 new production and preservation, in an amount 

23 of housing units, including housing units af24 fordable below the area median income, that is 


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1 appropriate to expected housing demand in the 

2 project area over the life of the project.’’; and 

3 (3) in subsection (o)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

5 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

7 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

8 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

9 and’’; and 

10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(D) information concerning projects for 

13 which the applicant submitted pro-housing poli14 cies under subsection (g)(2)(D) and received an 

15 adjustment of rating for project justification, 

16 including the pro-housing policies submitted 

17 and the amount of housing units expected 

18 through new production and preservation, in19 cluding affordable housing, as a result of the 

20 expected results of the policies, as measured 

21 under subsection (g)(2)(E).’’. 

Æ 


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