The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Apartment Association (NAA) applaud the Biden administration for continuing to recognize the nation’s critical shortage of affordable housing and taking additional steps today to help address it.
In addition to the Housing Supply Action Plan announced in May, today the Treasury Department issued new guidance to make it easier for state and local governments to use their American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to boost the supply of affordable housing.
NMHC and NAA, on behalf of the approximately 40 million Americans who call an apartment home and the 17.5 million jobs that the apartment industry supports, thank the Biden administration for making housing affordability a key priority.
According to new research released today, conducted by Hoyt Advisory Services, the U.S. needs to produce 4.3 million more apartments by 2035 to keep up with demand and address the undersupply caused by underbuilding after the 2008 financial crisis.
The Biden administration’s plan is a step in the right direction as we seek to address the growing demand for additional housing supply to ensure that all Americans can find a safe and affordable home.
We have long supported providing flexibility for the use of State and Local Relief Funds to finance long-term affordable housing loans. We are also pleased to see that HUD and Treasury are publishing joint guidelines to help governments easily combine ARP funds with other federal funding sources.
We look forward to continuing to work with Congress and the administration in the weeks and months ahead to identify additional legislative and regulatory action that can be taken to address the nation’s housing affordability crisis.