I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8604 
To reduce regulatory barriers to housing, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 4, 2024 
Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee 
on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To reduce regulatory barriers to housing, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing Regulatory 
Barriers to Housing Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) As of 2021 in the United States, there was 
an estimated housing shortage of 3,890,000 homes. 
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This housing supply shortage has resulted in a 
record number of cost-burdened households across 
regions and spanning the large and small cities, 
towns, and coastal and rural communities of the 
United States. 
(2) Several factors contribute to the under-
supply of housing in the United States, particularly 
workforce housing, including rising costs of con-
struction, a shortage of labor, supply chain disrup-
tions, and a lack of reliable funding sources. 
(3) Regulatory barriers at the State and local 
levels, such as zoning and land use regulations, also 
inhibit the creation of new housing to meet local and 
regional housing needs. 
(4) State and local governments are proactively 
exploring solutions for reforming regulatory barriers, 
but additional resources, data, and models are need-
ed to adequately address these challenges. 
(5) While land use regulation is the responsi-
bility of State and local governments, Federal sup-
port for necessary reforms is not a preemption of ex-
isting authority, and there is a need for the Federal 
Government to provide support and assistance to 
State and local governments that wish to undertake 
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necessary reforms in a manner that fits their com-
munities’ needs. 
(6) It is the policy of the United States to pro-
vide for fair housing throughout the country, and it 
is in the regional and national interest to have a 
supply of housing that is fair, affordable, adequate, 
and near opportunity. 
(7) Therefore, zoning ordinances or systems of 
land use regulation that have the intent or effect of 
restricting housing opportunities based on economic 
status or income without interests that are substan-
tial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory and that outweigh 
the regional need for housing are contrary to the re-
gional and national interest. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary for 
Policy Development and Research of the Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 
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SEC. 4. LAND USE AND PLANNING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3533) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i) LAND USE AND PLANNING.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) AFFORDABLE
HOUSING.—The term 
‘affordable housing’ means housing for which 
the monthly payment is less than 30 percent of 
the monthly income of a household. 
‘‘(B) LOCAL
ZONING
FRAMEWORK.—The 
term ‘local zoning framework’ means the local 
zoning codes and other ordinances, procedures, 
and policies governing zoning and land-use at 
the local level. 
‘‘(C) STATE
ZONING
FRAMEWORK.—The 
term ‘State zoning framework’ means the State 
legislation or State agency and department pro-
cedures enabling local planning and zoning au-
thorities and establishing and guiding related 
policies and programs. 
‘‘(D) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERN-
MENT.—The term ‘unit of general local govern-
ment’— 
‘‘(i) has the meaning given the term 
in section 102 of the Housing and Commu-
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nity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 
5302); and 
‘‘(ii) includes regional planning enti-
ties. 
‘‘(2) LAND
USE
AND
PLANNING.—The Sec-
retary, acting through the Assistant Secretary, 
shall— 
‘‘(A) provide technical assistance upon re-
quest to States and localities on zoning and 
planning to— 
‘‘(i) eliminate discriminatory land use 
policies and reduce barriers to housing 
construction, including construction of 
housing attainable for low-income and 
moderate-income renters and homeowners; 
and 
‘‘(ii) promote sustainable and resilient 
land development; 
‘‘(B) work across the Department and with 
the Department of the Treasury, the Depart-
ment of Justice, the Department of Transpor-
tation, the Department of Agriculture, the De-
partment of Health and Human Services, the 
Environmental Protection Agency, the Depart-
ment of Energy, the Department of the Inte-
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rior, and the Council on Environmental Quality 
to— 
‘‘(i) coordinate efforts relating to or 
impacting housing development; and 
‘‘(ii) as relevant, streamline permit-
ting, including by aligning the imple-
menting procedures of those agencies 
under the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to 
promote housing production and transit- 
oriented development; 
‘‘(C) conduct, support, and disseminate re-
search on local zoning and planning measures 
to improve access to affordable housing and in-
crease housing supply across a range of urban, 
suburban, exurban, and rural communities, in-
cluding by establishing a research program to 
perform research, collect data, and evaluate— 
‘‘(i) best practices in zoning and plan-
ning to expand opportunities for housing 
affordability and fair housing across a 
range of housing types, sizes, and afford-
ability; 
‘‘(ii) the effects of land-use reform 
measures on— 
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‘‘(I) neighborhood, jurisdictional, 
and regional housing conditions; 
‘‘(II) residential stability; and 
‘‘(III) access to affordable hous-
ing at all incomes levels; 
‘‘(iii) methods of community engage-
ment to improve the public engagement 
process to reform land-use planning and 
regulatory practices; 
‘‘(iv) systems and standards for data 
collection; and 
‘‘(v) other topics related to zoning and 
planning as determined by the Secretary; 
and 
‘‘(D) develop the necessary expertise and 
capacity within the Office to carry out this 
paragraph; and 
‘‘(E) not preempt local zoning. 
‘‘(3) GUIDELINES ON STATE ZONING FRAME-
WORKS.— 
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 3 
years after the date of enactment of this sub-
section, the Assistant Secretary shall publish a 
document outlining guidelines and best prac-
tices for State zoning frameworks to support 
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production of adequate housing to meet the 
needs of communities and provide housing op-
portunities for individuals at every income level 
across communities. 
‘‘(B) CONSULTATION; PUBLIC COMMENT.— 
During the 1-year period beginning on the date 
of enactment of this subsection, in developing 
the guidelines and best practices required under 
subparagraph (A), the Assistant Secretary 
shall— 
‘‘(i) publish draft guidelines in the 
Federal Register for public comment; and 
‘‘(ii) establish a task force for the 
purpose of providing consultation with the 
Department of the draft guidelines pub-
lished under clause (i), the members of 
which shall include— 
‘‘(I) planners and architects; 
‘‘(II) advocates with experience 
in affordable housing, community de-
velopment efforts, and fair housing; 
‘‘(III) housing developers, includ-
ing affordable and market-rate hous-
ing developers, manufactured housing 
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developers, and other business inter-
ests; 
‘‘(IV) community engagement ex-
perts and community members im-
pacted by zoning decisions; 
‘‘(V) public housing authorities 
and transit authorities; 
‘‘(VI) members of local zoning 
and planning boards and local and re-
gional transportation planning organi-
zations; 
‘‘(VII) State officials responsible 
for housing or land use, including 
members of State zoning boards of 
appeals; and 
‘‘(VIII) academic researchers. 
‘‘(C) CONTENTS.—The guidelines and best 
practices required under subparagraph (A) 
shall— 
‘‘(i) outline potential models for up-
dated State enabling legislation or State 
agency and department procedures; 
‘‘(ii) include recommendations regard-
ing— 
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‘‘(I) the reduction or elimination 
of parking minimums; 
‘‘(II) the increase in maximum 
floor area ratio requirements and 
maximum building heights and the re-
duction in minimum lot size and set-
back requirements; 
‘‘(III) the elimination of restric-
tions against accessory dwelling units; 
‘‘(IV) increasing by-right uses, 
including duplex, triplex, or quadplex 
buildings, across cities or metropolitan 
areas, including mechanisms, such as 
proximity to transit, to determine the 
jurisdictional level for rezoning and 
ensures development that does not 
disproportionately burden residents of 
economically distressed areas; 
‘‘(V) provisions regarding review 
of by-right development proposals to 
streamline review and reduce uncer-
tainty, 
including 
non-discretionary, 
ministerial review; 
‘‘(VI) the reduction of obstacles 
to a range of housing types at all lev-
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els of affordability, including manu-
factured and modular housing; 
‘‘(VII) State model codes for di-
recting local reforms, including mech-
anisms to encourage adoption; 
‘‘(VIII) provisions to encourage 
transit-oriented development, includ-
ing but not limited to, increased per-
missible units per structure and re-
duced minimum lot sizes near existing 
or planned public transit stations; 
‘‘(IX) improvements to the public 
engagement processes, including— 
‘‘(aa) meaningful access for 
limited English proficient persons 
and effective communication im-
provements for persons with dis-
abilities; 
‘‘(bb) leveraging of virtual 
meeting technologies; and 
‘‘(cc) proactive outreach in 
communities; 
‘‘(X) the elimination of or re-
forms to protest petition statutes; 
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‘‘(XI) the standardization, reduc-
tion, or elimination of impact fees; 
‘‘(XII) the standardization of 
building codes; 
‘‘(XIII) models for community 
benefit agreements; 
‘‘(XIV) mechanisms to preserve 
affordability, limit disruption of low- 
income communities, and prevent dis-
placement of existing residents; 
‘‘(XV) a model for a State zoning 
appeals process, which would— 
‘‘(aa) create a process for 
developers or builders requesting 
a variance, conditional use, or 
zoning district change or other-
wise petitioning a local zoning or 
planning board for a project in-
cluding a State-defined amount 
of affordable housing to appeal a 
rejection to a State body or re-
gional body empowered by the 
State; 
‘‘(bb) establish qualifications 
for communities to be exempted 
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from the appeals process based 
on their available stock of afford-
able housing; and 
‘‘(cc) establish a State zon-
ing appeals board to consider ap-
peals to a variance rejection and 
objectively 
evaluate 
petitions 
based on the potential for envi-
ronmental 
damage 
and 
infrastructural capacity; 
‘‘(XVI) best practices on the dis-
position of land owned by State gov-
ernments for affordable housing devel-
opment; and 
‘‘(XVII) other land use measures 
that promote access to new housing 
opportunities identified by the Sec-
retary; and 
‘‘(iii) consider— 
‘‘(I) local housing needs, includ-
ing ways to set and measure housing 
goals and targets; 
‘‘(II) a range of affordability for 
rental units, with a prioritization of 
units attainable to extremely low-in-
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come, low-income, and moderate-in-
come residents; 
‘‘(III) a range of affordability for 
homeownership units attainable to 
low-income and moderate-income resi-
dents; 
‘‘(IV) distinctions between States 
providing constitutional or statutory 
home rule authority to municipalities 
and States operating under the Dillon 
rule, as articulated in Hunter v. Pitts-
burgh, 207 U.S. 161 (1907); 
‘‘(V) accountability measures; 
‘‘(VI) the long-term cost to resi-
dents and businesses if more housing 
is not constructed; 
‘‘(VII) barriers to individuals 
seeking to access affordable housing 
in growing communities and commu-
nities with economic opportunity; 
‘‘(VIII) consistency with respect 
to fair housing and civil rights re-
quirements; 
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‘‘(IX) coordination between infra-
structure investments and housing 
planning; 
‘‘(X) statewide mechanisms to 
preserve existing affordability over the 
long term, including support for land 
banks and community land trusts; 
‘‘(XI) guidance to States on col-
lecting and maintaining proactive data 
on the current rental housing market 
and rental registries; and 
‘‘(XII) other considerations, as 
identified by the Secretary. 
‘‘(4) STATE ZONING FRAMEWORKS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 
days after the date on which the Assistant Sec-
retary receives a request from a State for tech-
nical assistance, the Assistant Secretary may 
provide technical assistance to States that seek 
to adopt a State zoning framework that incor-
porates, in whole or in part, the guidelines and 
best practices described in paragraph (4). 
‘‘(B) GUIDANCE.—In adopting a State 
zoning framework under subparagraph (A), the 
Assistant Secretary shall not provide technical 
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