AUSTIN – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced nearly $4 million in awards to 11 grantees to support research on creating practices and policies to increase the production and supply of affordable housing, including office-to-residential conversions.
Affordable housing is in scarce supply in the United States, especially in urban areas where it’s most needed. Just 19.1 percent of the total U.S. real Gross Domestic Population (GDP) and 6.8 percent of the U.S. population are in walkable urban places that represent just 1.2 percent of total landmass of the top 35 U.S. metros, according to a recent study by Smart Growth America.
Communities face several obstacles to creating affordable housing, HUD said. These include tax policies, land use controls, zoning ordinances, building codes fees and growth limits.
The projects receiving funding are expected to help communities find solutions to these obstacles, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said.
M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates Inc. will study recent efforts to convert office buildings vacated during the COVID-19 pandemic into apartment buildings, a trend that has gained momentum in recent years thanks to government financing incentives and public-private partnerships.
HUD also awarded $3 million to ten institutions that are studying the potential for manufactured housing methods and zoning and land use reforms to increase supply and lower costs.