Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing)

Communities nationwide are suffering from a lack of affordable housing, and housing production is not meeting the increasing demand for accessible and available units in many urban and rural areas, particularly areas of high opportunity. Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) empowers communities that are actively taking steps to remove barriers to affordable housing and seeking to increase housing production and lower housing costs for families over the long term.Barriers to affordable housing can be caused by zoning decisions, land use policies, or regulations; inefficient procedures; gaps in available resources for development; deteriorating or inadequate infrastructure; lack of neighborhood amenities; or challenges to preserving existing housing stock such as increasing threats from natural hazards, redevelopment that reduces the number of affordable units, or expiration of affordability requirements.Across the United States, regulatory and other barriers have made it difficult to produce, preserve, and access affordable housing. Constrained supply drives up housing costs and this reduces affordability over the long term. According to American Community Survey estimates in 2021, 39.3 million households (20.9 million renters and 18.4 million homeowners) have been classified as “cost-burdened,” spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. When broken down by race, Black families face affordability challenges as homeowners and renters more than any other race/ethnic group, spending between 30 to 50 percent of their income on housing. In Puerto Rico, cost-burdened households face severe affordability challenges, spending between 50 to 90 percent of their income on housing. Limited access to housing has long-term effects on access to opportunity and ability to build generational wealth, especially for underserved communities of color and low-income people. Affordability challenges and the lack of affordable housing supply further increase eviction pressures and likelihood of homelessness for low-income people.HUD is issuing this NOFO under the authority of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328, approved December 29, 2022) (Appropriations Act), which appropriates $85 million for competitive grant funding for the identification and removal of barriers to affordable housing production and preservation. Congress has directed HUD to undertake a competition using the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) statutory and regulatory framework. Under this NOFO, HUD will provide PRO Housing grants to identify and remove barriers to affordable housing production and preservation. Grantees may use awards to further develop, evaluate, and implement housing policy plans, improve housing strategies, and facilitate affordable housing production and preservation. Eligible applicants are local and state governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and multijurisdictional entities.HUD has six goals for this competition:Fairly and effectively award the PRO Housing grant fundingElevate and enable promising practices dedicated to identifying and removing barriers to affordable housing production and preservation, while preventing displacementInstitutionalize state and local analysis and implementation of effective, equitable, and resilient approaches to affordable housing production and preservationProvide technical assistance to help communities better fulfill the Consolidated Plan’s requirement of identifying barriers to affordable housing and implementing solutions to address those barriersAffirmatively further fair housing by addressing and removing barriers that perpetuate segregation, barriers that inhibit access to well-resourced areas of opportunity for protected class groups and vulnerable populations, and barriers that concentrate affordable housing in under-resourced areas.Facilitate collaboration and harness innovative approaches from jurisdictions, researchers, advocates, and stakeholders.HUD will prioritize applicants that demonstrate: (1) progress and a commitment to overcoming local barriers to facilitate the increase in affordable housing production and preservation; and (2) an acute demand for housing affordable to households with incomes below 100 percent of the area median income. If applicable, proposals should also explain how the funds would be used to identify and remove barriers to affordable housing in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing by expanding access to housing opportunities in well-resourced areas for protected class groups. HUD will also prioritize applicants that demonstrate a commitment and ability to identify and remove barriers to (1) expanding affordable housing in a manner that would promote desegregation; (2) expanding affordable housing in well-resourced areas of opportunity for protected class groups that have systematically been denied equitable access to such areas; or (3) deconcentrating affordable housing and increasing housing choice. HUD encourages applications that incorporate a discussion of key barriers related to land-use regulations, permitting, or related procedural issues. HUD further encourages applicants to outline and discuss how their proposed activities will advance equity, locate affordable accessible housing near transit and bolster access to services and opportunities, increase community resilience and mitigate the effects of natural and environmental hazards, and develop and preserve affordable housing in accordance with input from community members and other stakeholders.As with all CDBG assistance, the priority is to serve low- and moderate-income people.PRO Housing grantees must administer the PRO Housing grant in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing, which means taking meaningful actions, in addition to combating discrimination, to overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities free from barriers that restrict access to opportunity based on protected characteristics. Specifically, affirmatively furthering fair housing means taking meaningful actions that, taken together, address significant disparities in housing needs and in access to opportunities, replacing segregated living patterns with truly integrated and balanced living patterns, transforming racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty into areas of opportunity, and fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws.
Categories: Community Development, Housing.