Coalition says the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act could transform how quickly federally supported housing gets built.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, a broad coalition of pro-housing organizations, co-led by Inclusive Abundance Action, sent a letter to Senate committee leaders in strong support of the housing provisions in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA, S. 5653), the Senate’s bipartisan permitting reform package.
The signatories include national housing and community development groups, home builders, policy experts, and dozens of local YIMBY organizations. They argue the bill’s housing provisions could transform how quickly federally supported housing gets built, even as most coverage to date has focused on its energy and infrastructure effects.
Federally assisted affordable and multifamily housing often faces lengthy environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and historic preservation reviews under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). These reviews largely do not apply to private-sector development. Affordable housing developers report delays of a year or longer to clear environmental review, and up to three months just to establish an exemption.
The coalition highlighted how BAAJA would:
- Streamline federal reviews, lowering costs for home builders. Projects supported by federal grants, loans, or loan guarantees that aren’t primarily for preservation would no longer trigger a federal historic preservation review. And such projects would face fewer or streamlined environmental reviews under NEPA. The bill also lets qualifying state or Tribal reviews substitute for NEPA, expands categorical exclusions, and sets clear review timelines. Streamlined Clean Water Act reviews could save up to an estimated $425,000 per project.
- Speed up billions in housing funding. At least $10 billion a year in HUD housing and community development funding could benefit from faster, streamlined reviews, including CDBG, HOME, public housing, and HUD loan programs.
- Build on the ROAD to Housing Act. BAAJA extends the reforms in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which Congress passed this year with strong bipartisan majorities.
Signatories include the National Community Development Association, the Council of State Community Development Agencies, the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, the National Association of Home Builders, the Institute for Progress, the Niskanen Center, the Center for Public Enterprise Action Fund, Up For Growth Action, and YIMBY Action, joined by 58 local pro-housing groups from across the country.
The coalition urged both the Senate and the House to pass the bill to build more homes faster and lower housing costs. Read the full letter here, a backgrounder on BAAJA's housing implications here, and coverage from Politico’s Morning Money here.
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Inclusive Abundance Action is a 501(c)(4) organization that advances abundance solutions, including through congressional and executive branch advocacy, and by building the political power to get them passed.