The 12 Titles / Title II
Title II: Building More in America
This title is the housing-supply engine of the act. It creates several new HUD grant programs to spur home construction and repair — including a whole-home repairs pilot, an Innovation Fund that rewards communities that cut red tape and build more housing, and a pilot to convert vacant malls, hotels, and warehouses into housing. It also streamlines federal environmental reviews for routine housing projects, lets Community Development Block Grant money pay for new affordable-housing construction for the first time (up to 20 percent of an allocation), roughly quadruples FHA multifamily loan limits, and makes the Rental Assistance Demonstration program permanent.
§ 201 Increasing Housing in Opportunity Zones
Allows (but does not require) HUD to give extra weight, when awarding competitive housing construction, rehabilitation, or preservation grants, to applicants whose projects are located in or substantially benefit federally designated Opportunity Zones — low-income areas already targeted by tax incentives. In practice, applicants building in these zones may score better in HUD grant competitions.
Affects: housing developers, local governments, residents of low-income communities
§ 202 Whole-Home Repairs Act Notable
Creates a national pilot program, modeled on Pennsylvania's whole-home repairs program, in which HUD gives grants to 2 to 10 state, local, or tribal 'implementing organizations' per year (no more than one per state). Those organizations then provide repair grants to low-income homeowners (household income at or below 80 percent of area median income, or enrolled in programs like Medicaid, SNAP, or TANF) and loans — which can be forgiven after 3 years — to small landlords (fewer than 10 rental properties and no more than 25 total units, majority affordable). Covered repairs address accessibility for seniors and people with disabilities, habitability and safety hazards, and energy and water efficiency. Landlords taking loans must extend current tenants' leases for at least 3 years after repairs and cap annual rent increases at 5 percent or inflation, whichever is lower, for at least 3 years. Grantees may spend up to 10 percent on administration and 5 percent on repair-workforce training; the pilot ends October 1, 2031.
Affects: low-income homeowners, renters, small landlords, seniors, people with disabilities, state and local governments, Indian tribes, nonprofit housing organizations
- HUD: Grantees submit annual reports on units served, costs, applications, demographics, and anti-fraud compliance — annually while receiving grant funds
- HUD Office of Inspector General: HUD Inspector General assesses safeguards against misuse of the pilot program — at least twice during the life of the pilot program
- HUD: HUD submits annual summary of program data to Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees — annually
- HUD: Whole-home repairs pilot program terminates — October 1, 2031
§ 203 Community Investment and Prosperity Act Notable
Raises the cap on 'public welfare investments' — investments that primarily benefit low- and moderate-income communities, such as affordable-housing projects — that national banks and state member banks may make, from 15 percent to 20 percent of the bank's capital and surplus. This lets banks put more money into community development and affordable-housing deals. It also requires the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve to report to Congress every two years on how many such investments banks made, their dollar amounts, and the rules governing them.
Affects: community banks, lenders, affordable housing developers, low-income communities
- OCC and Federal Reserve: OCC and Federal Reserve each report to Congress on banks' public welfare investments over the prior two years — 2 years after enactment, and every 2 years thereafter (≈ July 11, 2028)
§ 204 Addition of Affordable Housing Construction as an Eligible Activity Notable
For the first time, allows Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to pay for new construction of affordable housing — an activity historically excluded from the program. A recipient community may spend up to 20 percent of its CDBG allocation on new affordable-housing construction, and new construction now counts toward the program's requirement to benefit low- and moderate-income people. The change applies only to CDBG money appropriated after the act's enactment.
Affects: local governments, states, affordable housing developers, renters, low- and moderate-income households
- HUD: New construction authority applies only to funds appropriated after enactment — upon enactment (prospective funds only)
§ 205 Better Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development (BUILD) Housing Act
Lets HUD designate its assistance programs so that states, local governments — and now, for the first time, federally recognized Indian tribes — can take over the federal environmental review (NEPA) responsibilities for projects, rather than waiting on HUD to do the reviews. This is a process change intended to speed up housing projects; it does not weaken environmental standards themselves. It applies only to funds appropriated after enactment, and not to projects that mix pre- and post-enactment funds.
Affects: state and local governments, Indian tribes, housing developers
§ 206 Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act Notable
Directs HUD to rewrite its environmental-review regulations so that many routine housing activities face lighter or no NEPA review. Activities like rental assistance, down-payment help, supportive services, and predevelopment costs become fully exempt; rehabbing 1-to-4-unit homes and building up to 4 scattered-site units get the lightest categorical exclusion; and larger items — office-to-residential conversions, projects of 5 to 15 units per site, small infill projects on previously disturbed sites of up to 5 acres, and voluntary buyouts of disaster-threatened floodplain properties — get a standard categorical exclusion, provided they do not materially alter environmental conditions. The goal is to cut months of paperwork for small and mid-size housing projects. HUD must report annually to Congress for five years on how much review time and administrative cost the changes save.
Affects: homebuilders, affordable housing developers, local governments, public housing agencies, renters, homebuyers
- HUD: HUD submits annual report to Congress on reductions in review times and administrative costs — annually for 5 years, beginning 2 years after enactment (≈ July 11, 2028)
§ 207 Grants for Planning and Implementation Associated with Affordable Housing
Requires HUD to create, within one year, a competitive grant program for states, cities, urban counties, and regional planning agencies to fund housing planning work — developing housing plans, updating zoning codes, streamlining regulations, boosting inspection capacity, and coordinating housing with transit. The grants cannot be used for actual construction, alteration, or repair, and no more than 10 percent may go to administrative costs. HUD must coordinate with the Federal Transit Administration. The program sunsets 5 years after enactment.
Affects: state and local governments, regional planning agencies, urban planners
- HUD: HUD establishes the planning grant program — 1 year after enactment (≈ July 11, 2027)
- HUD: Program terminates — 5 years after enactment (≈ July 11, 2031)
§ 208 Innovation Fund Notable
Creates a new HUD grant fund that rewards cities, counties, local governments, and tribes that have already demonstrably grown their housing supply — for example by legalizing duplexes and accessory dwelling units, cutting parking minimums, shrinking minimum lot sizes, or streamlining permits. HUD must publish its methodology for measuring supply growth for public comment, then award at least 25 competitive grants a year (funding permitting), each between $250,000 and $10 million, spread across rural, suburban, and urban areas. Winners can spend the money on community development activities, transportation projects, or further pro-housing initiatives. The section authorizes $200 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2031 (inflation-adjusted), expressly bars HUD from preempting local zoning, and sunsets 7 years after enactment.
Affects: local governments, Indian tribes, homebuilders, renters, homebuyers
- HUD: HUD establishes the Innovation Fund grant program — 1 year after enactment (≈ July 11, 2027)
- HUD: HUD publishes housing-supply-growth methodology in the Federal Register for public comment — at least 90 days before each notice of funding opportunity
- HUD: Program terminates — 7 years after enactment (≈ July 11, 2033)
- HUD: Authorized appropriations of $200,000,000 per year — fiscal years 2027 through 2031
§ 209 Accelerating Home Building Act
Authorizes HUD grants to local governments and Indian tribes to adopt 'prereviewed designs' (pattern books) — standard construction plans pre-approved for local building codes — so builders can get permits faster for small and mid-size housing: accessory dwelling units, duplexes through fourplexes, townhouses, cottage courts, and other buildings of up to 25 units. Grants cannot fund actual construction. At least 10 percent of each year's funding is reserved for rural areas (places under 50,000 people), and HUD may claw back funds if a locality has not adopted its designs within 5 years. Grantees must report on permits issued and units built using the designs.
Affects: local governments, Indian tribes, homebuilders, rural communities
- HUD: HUD may require repayment if selected prereviewed designs are not adopted — 5 years after receipt of the grant (extendable by HUD)
§ 210 Revitalizing Empty Structures Into Desirable Environments (RESIDE) Act Notable
Creates a pilot grant program, running fiscal years 2027 through 2031, to help communities convert vacant and abandoned commercial buildings — warehouses, factories, malls, strip malls, and hotels that have failed safety inspections or been abandoned — into 'attainable housing' (serving households up to 120 percent of area median income, with a majority of units affordable at 60 percent). In years when at least $100 million is appropriated, grants range from $1 million to $10 million and can pay for acquisition, demolition, hazard remediation, construction, or community land trusts. Priority goes to economically distressed communities, Opportunity Zones, and places that have cut regulatory barriers to conversions. HUD can waive most of its own rules (but not fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor, or environmental requirements) to speed projects.
Affects: local governments, affordable housing developers, renters, communities with vacant commercial buildings, seniors, veterans
- HUD: Pilot program operates — fiscal years 2027 through 2031
- HUD: HUD studies and reports to Congress on the pilot's impact on tax base, affordable housing access, homeownership, and blight — 180 days after the pilot program terminates
§ 211 Housing Affordability Act Notable
Roughly quadruples the per-unit dollar limits on FHA multifamily mortgage insurance, which had fallen far behind construction costs — for example, one base limit rises from $38,025 to $167,310 per unit. Higher limits mean FHA can insure loans for far more apartment construction and rehabilitation, especially in expensive markets. Going forward the limits are indexed annually (starting July 1, 2025) to the Census Bureau's price deflator for multifamily units under construction. The FHA Commissioner must study whether the new limits are adequate and how increases affect FHA's insurance fund, lending volume, rents, and housing supply, and report to Congress within 3 years.
Affects: apartment developers, lenders, renters, FHA
- HUD/FHA: Annual inflation indexing of FHA multifamily loan limits commences — July 1, 2025
- FHA: FHA Commissioner reports study findings on multifamily loan limits to Congress — 3 years after enactment (≈ July 11, 2029)
§ 212 Rental Assistance Demonstration Program Notable
Makes the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) — which lets public housing agencies convert aging public housing to more stable, project-based Section 8 funding that can attract private renovation capital — a permanent program by removing its September 30, 2029 expiration. It also raises the cap on units that can be converted from 455,000 to 555,000. New tenant safeguards accompany the expansion: HUD must annually assess and publish findings on how conversions affect tenants, tenant rights remain enforceable after conversion, HUD may impose civil money penalties for violations, and converted PHA property must be used for affordable housing rather than sporting, private, or for-profit purposes.
Affects: public housing agencies, public housing residents, renters, affordable housing developers
- HUD: HUD annually assesses and publishes findings on RAD conversions' effects on public housing preservation, private leveraging, and tenants — annually
§ 213 Build Now Act Notable
Ties a portion of Community Development Block Grant funding for metropolitan cities and urban counties to whether they are building more housing. HUD will compare each jurisdiction's recent 5-year housing-unit growth rate to the prior 5 years: jurisdictions whose improvement is below the median lose 10 percent of their CDBG allocation, and that money is redistributed as bonuses to jurisdictions at or above the median or growing at 4 percent or more per year. Jurisdictions with low housing costs, high rental vacancy, a recent major disaster declaration, or no legal zoning authority are exempt from the adjustment. HUD must notify every jurisdiction of its standing within 60 days of enactment; the funding adjustments begin in the third full fiscal year after enactment and run through fiscal year 2043.
Affects: local governments, urban counties, homebuilders, renters, CDBG-funded programs
- HUD: HUD notifies each eligible recipient of its housing growth improvement rate and shares best-practices guidance — 60 days after enactment (≈ September 9, 2026)
- HUD: CDBG allocation adjustments (bonuses and 10 percent reductions) take effect — third full fiscal year after enactment, remaining in effect through fiscal year 2043
- HUD: HUD publishes annual report listing each recipient's housing growth improvement rate and prior-year bonuses and reductions — annually, before allocating CDBG funds each fiscal year
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