Making Housing Affordable: Breaking Down Regulatory
Barriers - A Self-Assessment Guide for States (March 1994,
100 p.)
Regulatory barriers have long been recognized as a leading cause of high housing
costs and limited housing choice for lower income families.
Congress has placed emphasis on this issue by requiring States
to address regulatory barriers in drafting their Comprehensive
Housing Affordability Strategies (CHAS) and by authorizing a
grant program under the Housing and Community Development Act
of 1992 that assists States in preparing strategies to identify
and remove regulatory barriers to affordable housing. This publication
is intended to serve as a guide for meeting the requirements
of both CHAS and the regulatory barrier grant program. The guide
suggests that States first determine the nature and extent of
affordability problems within their jurisdictions by comparing,
for example, HUD's calculation of fair market rents with prevailing
wage rates. Once affordability problems have been identified,
the guide proposes that States evaluate their overall planning
practices. It specifically recommends that States consider requiring
local governments to develop comprehensive plans¦subject
to State review¦and that such plans encourage the development
of affordable housing. Moreover, planning approaches could include
the use of regional "fair share," and States could
institute programs to provide intensives to local governments
to implement regulatory reform. As a part of their review, States
also need to identify practices that create regulatory barriers,
such as in the areas of zoning, land development and site planning,
building codes and standards, infrastructure, administration
and processing, and impact fees. The guide provides a question-and-answer
checklist in each of these areas to evaluate statutes, policies,
and regulations. Following each checklist, the guide offers
specific strategies for ameliorating regulatory barriers. Specific
techniques for achieving each strategy are also recommended.
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