21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Explained with Mike Wallace and Jason Jordan

Explaining the New Housing Act with Mike Wallace and Jason Jordan

In this episode, Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities, is in conversation with Mike Wallace, Legislative Director, Housing, Community and Economic Development, National League of Cities, and Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association, on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The first comprehensive housing package to pass Congress in decades passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to boost housing supply by improving existing programs, unlocking private capital, and reducing federal regulatory barriers.

For more information, visit us at nlc.org.

Transcript

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Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 0:07

Welcome back to CitySpeak. I'm your host, Lauren Lowery, the Director of Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities. CitySpeaks gives listeners an inside review of what local leadership in America means today, featuring conversations with government leaders, policy experts regarding the biggest issues and challenges facing America, cities, towns, and villages. With a shortage of 4 million housing units, the housing crisis impacts every community across America in some ways. As long as local leaders have been faced with addressing housing challenges, NLC position as the voice of cities, towns, and villages has been clear. Local government are looking for good partners to help meet this housing moment. I'm pleased to share that America's local governments are getting a boost for their housing experts. Today I'm joined by two housing experts, Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development with the National League of Cities, and Jason Jordan, public affairs director for the American Planning Association. Both Mike and Jason are longtime housing advocates who know housing and the 21st Century Road to Housing Act better than anyone in Washington, D.C. We are honored to have their experience and knowledge with us today to explain the impacts of the new housing bill.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 1:47

Hi Lauren. Thanks, Lauren.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 1:49

Hi, you know, uh, this has been a long time coming, uh, particularly with this housing bill. So I have to give us kudos for the fighting the long fight. Um, I think with that said, uh, particularly for this moment, why should members of National League of Cities and the American Planning Association be celebrating this bill becoming law?

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 2:15

I think there's many reasons. I think Clarence said it best. If you go to our website, you'll see he he has a blog on this. I think, you know, there are a lot the reasons to celebrate are it's one is just um so unexpected in this uh deeply divided Congress that both sides were willing to um put aside some some differences and look at what was in common, what you know, what kinds of ideas had buy-in from both sides and actually move those forward. Sometimes even bills with you know hundreds of co-sponsors just languish uh waiting for floor time and never getting there. And this bill, I mean, passed three or four times in each chamber before it actually got there, which is um, you know, each one of those votes, you sort of hold your breath and see what the next other chamber is going to do. So that that's one thing. But the other is that you know, we've been hearing from city leaders really since the Great Recession, and much more so in the last five years, probably, um, that they're looking for housing solutions, that they recognize uh local governments can't really go this alone. Uh they need good partners, they need good programs, um, they need the federal government and the state government's helps. And uh this is the federal government stepping up to provide that kind of partnership that cities have been craving for years now.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 3:37

I agree with that, Mike. Um Jason, why should members of the American Planning Association be celebrating this bill becoming law?

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 3:46

Yeah, I I think it comes down to the fact that this bill really focuses on the underlying systems around the federal role in delivering housing. You know, it's it's important, and I don't want to lose sight of the fact that the funding that the federal government provides into the system, the financing tools are incredibly important. But this was an opportunity to really take a look at how programs were performing, what changes need to be made in today's context. And importantly, I think for this conversation and for planners and their local elected partners, what tools do they need to drive local solutions forward? So uh it is remarkable, as Mike said, to find bipartisanship right now. And on top of that, to have a bill that really tries to make substantive policy change, I think, is worthy of celebration.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 4:47

I know that I will be celebrating for a long time, but uh, with that celebration, I I can imagine people are wanting to know what's in the bill. Um, so Mike, tell us what's in the bill.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 5:01

Yeah, so I think this is important for city leaders to hear. This isn't the kind of bill that a city can um, you know, just apply for one thing and and on its own build 30 units of housing or something. This bill is about partnerships. It's going to take partnerships. Uh it's going to take local elected officials, local governments working in concert and coordination with builders and lenders, because this bill provides uh incentives and resources across the board. It's not just a local government bill. Um uh it does not it doesn't provide a lot of new funding. It does authorize several new programs, which we're excited about and to see how cities use them. But um really the goal here is as Chairman Scott on the banking committee has said is was to unlock more private capital um to bring down cost housing costs, uh to bring down the cost of construction and that sort of thing. So things um like lifting the public services cap on banks um by 20% or so, I forget what it is, but it's gonna allow more financial institutions to put more capital behind um all kinds of subsidized housing developments, whether it's deeply low income or whether it's more sort of focused on workforce and starter homes. But I think you know, for cities, you know, cities that get CDBG, cities that get the home program, you're gonna see some additional flexibilities there and the opportunity to be more creative and innovative with those programs. And then under that, there's uh just a host of new stuff: the innovation fund, the whole homes repair. And I know, Lauren, that we're um looking at these things and developing resources as as we speak to help city leaders start anticipating um if those programs are right fit for them.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 6:53

Absolutely. And continuing on the theme of the bill, Mike, how's this bill different from recent housing programs set up under the American Rescue Plan Act or the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund?

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 7:09

Yeah, yeah. So those most of those programs, um, the local grant grants to local governments or um the uh eviction uh prevention programs, those sorts of things, those are grant programs, uh, and they really relied on local governments to set up the programs themselves. The programs that authorized in this bill, they're they're much more structured. Uh it's gonna be more like uh like getting your allocation of CDBG. You know, it's it'll be a competitive grant that comes to the city uh and carried out uh like normal. But I, you know, I think I really uh am glad that we were able to get those grants for local governments because you know it um billions uh from those from those grants were spent on housing. And I think that for that reason, lots of local governments are probably operating at the highest capacity in terms of housing issues than than they ever have because many local governments chose to share those those grant dollars with with Habitat Humanity or invest directly in developments happening in their towns, um, and they have brought on staff that know how to do that. And so this this uh 21st Century Road Housing Act, I think, is coming really at the exact right time because those ARPA grants are winding down, and if cities don't have ongoing resources for housing, uh they're likely to shed that capacity. Uh so um things are lining up well there.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 8:36

Yeah. And Jason, I'm curious in this uh bill, what stands out for you that could help planners make housing more attainable in their communities?

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 8:47

Yeah. Um just to build for a second on what Mike was saying, you know, this isn't a bill that's structured a little bit differently than many of the bills we see, in that it's actually a compendium of a lot of bills that had been floating around in Congress previously. So it really is, when you look at it in total, a lot of individual program changes or reforms kind of all melded together. So we think of it as one bill, but it's actually a lot of bills that affect a lot of different programs. From the planning perspective, there are there are a bunch of things in here. I guess I would start at the top of the list with the housing supply frameworks section of the bill, which essentially requires HUD to do more research into what's working in terms of the changes and modernization efforts that are happening around the country on things like zoning and land use codes, uh, and provide some models out there, which hopefully will fill some capacity gaps um in some communities and give people an idea of what's working.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 9:48

Um Jason, just don't forget, uh also it's not preemption.

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 9:52

Yeah, for our it's it's not preemption um at all. Um I think it's actually a very important acknowledgement of the appropriate partnership between federal government and and local governments. Um and we see that reflected in a few other areas of the bill as well. Um, there's a new program authorized to do uh pre-approved plans and pattern books, um, you know, because one of the issues we've seen uh in communities is you can make all the reforms you want, but you still got to try to ensure that you get production. And this is a step in that direction to make it easier to build some of that missing middle housing. Um there are the innovation grants that Mike touched on earlier. Um, there's support for some building code reforms as well, looking at guidance for the so-called single stair reforms to building codes. Um, so there's there's a lot of pieces here, and I know we're gonna touch on it uh in a few minutes, but the whole section on modular and manufactured housing, I think, is gonna be very significant and unlocking a lot of the potential in some of the new technology we're seeing in housing uh construction really come online. Um, so that there are a lot of reforms that on their own may seem relatively small, but again, when you when you package these things together uh and we see you know changes to the environmental review process or we see changes to uh federal rules around what uh is constituted as manufactured housing, I think those things begin to add up to real change.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 11:32

Yeah. Um and if I was a mayor or a city council or a city staffer at this moment, I'm like, yes, pre-approved plans, modular housing, uh flexibility in CDBG, uh and uh innovation fund. And you know, a lot of the questions that I'm getting at the moment is when can cities take advantage? And so, Mike, I I'm curious, when will cities be able to take advantage of the changes in the bill?

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 12:02

Well, we we are all eager and chomping at the bit to put these things to use, but it there is going to be a lag time um before cities will really be able to start using these things. So I think about half the program about half the provisions in the bill have a 12-month um period uh essentially saying that it should shall be enacted within the next 12 months. So for local governments, that means uh starting with fiscal year 2027 is when um the new flexibilities for CDBG, for instance, where for the first time cities will be able to use their CDBG dollars uh for uh new construction. And I think that's significant because you know with CDBG, um these uh the grants have been level for years and years and years, so the the buying power of the grant has gone down a little bit. Uh and I know that cities are already allocating those dollars to essential functions. So um, you know, using the time between now and when the fiscal 27 funds are available to talk to the community to figure out, you know, if that continues to make sense or um is housing attainability a higher priority in terms of creating new units. Um certainly we don't want cities to stop using CDBG to preserve existing affordable housing, which is how many cities spend that now. But um, that will be a flexibility. The home program, too. Um, you know, it you it was uh targeted to deeply affordable housing, but the bill uh raises the income uh limits for who can benefit from that from like I think 30% AMI to 100% AMI. So that's really talking about using home to help uh teacher housing, nurse housing, you know, um those um you know workers in your community um step up into their you know first the first home they'll ever buy. Um so so that's good. So that that's sort of the first 12 months, and then there's there's another round at about 16 months, another round about 24 months. Um but for the funding piece, you know, fiscal year 2027 is kind of when we're first going to get it.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 14:14

Kind of going back to the overwhelming uh bipartisan support for this bill, Mike and Jason. Um do you think even in this moment is Congress interested in a second housing bill? Um, were there any ideas or legislation that did not make it into this bill that NLC or APA would like to see advanced?

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 14:39

I I think the answer to that is a qualified yes, right? I mean, I everyone in this moment is sort of taking a little bit of a breather and a victory lap and assessing where we are. But I continue to believe that we are in a kind of unique opportunity moment as it relates to housing policy. Um we see this at all levels of government all across the country. There's a desire to evaluate existing programs, new programs, how can we improve the public-private partnership on housing, all sorts of things. So while a lot of ideas that have been kicking around for the last few years in all candor got packaged together here, I think there is more to be done. And speaking broadly about it, I think there are kind of two categories in my mind for where Congress may go next. One is we look at this bill as let's fix the policy mechanics of everything we do at the federal level as it relates to housing. That begs the question for a second round of can we put more money into the system to actually support solutions on the ground and ensuring that we get the production we want? So I think that that's one track. The second track is looking at some of the things that maybe didn't make the cut in this bill that we still want to come back to. Are there additional regulatory barriers that need to be addressed? Are there other sorts of incentives and capacity supports that can be put in place to help communities take advantage of some of the changes that are envisioned in this bill? So I think there's a lot more to be done, uh, and we will see Congress uh come back and continue to talk about this, in my opinion.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 16:36

Yeah, I I think you're exactly right, Jason. I mean, we we have the momentum on housing now. We've demonstrated that the support is there. So I, you know, I think there were there were a couple of guidelines I think that um Senators um Scott and Warren agreed to, and one of them was that they weren't really going to put finance-related um provisions in the bill. And you know, one of those is the um neighborhood homes tax credit. Uh I think that you know that's a big, big piece of legislation NLC supports. It wasn't the right fit for the 21st century road, but um, you know, the there's a huge coalition that we're working with uh hand in hand, trying and love to see that one get passed. Um but I think Jason's right. You know, when we were been talking to members of Congress the last uh year or two, you hear you heard a lot that um you know before before we could talk about funding, let's let's get the rules right, let's get the regulations right, fix the things we can. And that's what we've done here with 21st Century Road. So, you know, it's time to go back to Congress and say, okay, we've we've done the regulatory piece, and if we want to address the housing crisis at speed, uh we're we're going to need additional funding. I mean, that's that's just it. And I, you know, ideally from NLC's perspective, additional funding that might look a lot like the state and local fiscal recovery fund, direct dollars, significant flexibility to be able to put the financing wherever it's needed to keep a project going forward in a way that maintains its um affordability and attainability to the renter or the homeowner.

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 18:17

I think there are also some adjacent policy areas that can be leveraged to support the momentum on housing. And I think specifically of the fact that Congress is going to have to turn its attention to a surface transportation infrastructure package. And there are opportunities there to explore that intersection. And when you when you look at some of the elements of road that try to envision how communities are thinking about their long-term growth, there's some opportunities when we look at the federal infrastructure portfolio to support communities on their housing agenda, but by dealing with some of those supportive infrastructure needs that we know can be a real choke point in terms of getting the production out of the ground.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 18:59

I appreciate you for bringing that up, uh Jason. You know, um what we've seen with our membership is that housing supply and infrastructure goes hand in hand. Um I think my next question is uh, and Mike, starting with you, how should communities plan to take advantage of these new flexibility, take advantage of uh the pilot and competitive grant programs? You know, and what can uh local governments do now to get ready?

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 19:33

Yeah, uh there is plenty to be done now. You know, I I think as I said earlier, this isn't this isn't a bill that uh is going to work great for a city if they try to go it alone. I mean, you this is really a partnerships bill. You uh you're going to be as a city, as a local government, um, talking to developers, talking to lenders about what's possible in your community. And I think, you know, as we have been doing ever since we released the housing supply accelerator playbook, which which gives lots of different tools and ideas for how to do projects, but um at the beginning, it also talks about systems like Jason was talking about like just how we engage with the private sector on these housing issues, um, and and can we do that better? And I think that this uh 21st Century Road is an opportunity for cities um who haven't done that to like this is the time to do it. It's time to invite um all the stakeholders to the table and look at the bill together and and see what's possible and what's needed in your community, and then what in the bill is going to be helpful there. You know, one of the things we're very excited about in the bill is the um it essentially waives uh NEPA environmental review report um for infill development. And that's that's gonna be a big deal because that NEPA review is oftentimes what knocks something out that stops something from penciling out because uh you you know, for cities, you don't really know when um Washington's gonna come back to you and say, yep, this this is good, could be 12 months, 18 months. Um that could be too long for a project. And that and then just the the cost of putting those environmental reviews together will be eliminated for infill. So but but I think that you know, by the time you know, by the time fiscal year 27 rolls around and whenever we actually do get funds from that, um, it'll be too late to start um doing that kind of convening because uh there's only so many developers across the country. We know we need more builders, frankly. Um, and the s I think the the localities that start this process now will be in a place to actually, you know, ensure shovels are going in the ground by the time those funds become available.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 21:58

Agree. And Jason? What should communities be doing to take advantage of these new flexibilities and programs? I'm curious from your perspective.

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 22:06

Yeah, I think it's really accelerating a lot of the work that's already happening in a lot of places in terms of uh engaging a broad array of stakeholders around what do we need to be doing a little bit differently or a little bit better. Um, you know, I I look at some of the provisions in here and and they're to be, they're to be applauded for sure, but they also pose some interesting questions about how can a community take full advantage of it. So just as a, for instance, you know, I think the the bill has a great section related to manufactured housing and modular housing. But a lot of what it focuses on are changing federal rules as it relates to those things or federal financing for those things, which then kind of pushes the conversation down to communities to say, all right, we've been treating these housing types one way because of the nature of the rules coming down from Washington about what this was. If it's going to be something different, how can we make changes that help production and help accelerate development in our community in a way that fits with our vision and our plans? So I think there's an opportunity here while we're waiting for final rules on these programs for communities to engage in a little bit of self-reflection and table setting so that the reforms can have the biggest impact possible.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 23:32

You know, we we've, as I think, in many communities have sort of a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of manufactured homes, uh, modular homes, those sorts of things. And, you know, Lauren, we just took our leadership to Louisville, and uh one of the tours that we did was um, I think it's a Danish company who builds modular homes, um, opened their first United States factory in Louisville, and they they've gotten a number of projects going. And it's amazing to see how they get put together. Um, they're just as strong as any other type of stick-built home. Uh, and when by the time they you get the facade on, you wouldn't even know it was modular, really. So I, you know, I would just urge communities, like, you know, we can anticipate people start thinking about um trailer homes and trailer parks and all these sorts of things when these discussions come up. Um, but you know, that's that's part of the community conversation is sort of dispelling that that myth uh that's become a myth now, uh, and showing, you know, going to take a look at these projects or bringing people to these projects just to show like um it's like with Light Tech projects, people have one idea of what they are, they have no idea they're living next to one, you know. Um so um we that I think that it the the building industry has come a long way in terms of what's possible.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 24:54

Yeah, and I'm I'm hearing that with communities, um, don't wait to plan because it would be too late. Start building uh that coalition of bringing partners around the table, uh, including uh mayors, city councils, uh builders, financial institutions, relatories, uh state and federal partners uh around the table, start thinking about the plan and strategy, also starting to educate uh internally as well as externally and really be thoughtful in how these laws or new programs at the federal level um can be transformative at the local level. Um, and so you know, we're talking about how local governments can get ready. I'm curious what National League of Cities and the American Planning Association are thinking about as it relates to helping cities and local government prepare. I'll start with you, Mike.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 25:57

Yeah, no, well, I was just gonna highlight what a what a strong, uh great partnership National League of Cities already has with the American Planning Association. Um where our original partnership uh that really got the housing supply accelerator off the ground and makes a lot of sense, you know, because it's the elected officials and then it's the city staff and planning and housing departments um, you know, working through these issues together and and coming out um, you know, coming out with something productive. So um that's been good. I think that our uh Jason, tell me if I'm wrong, but I think we're gonna do a lot of work in common um in coordination in what we are wanting our members to know. Um so they're hearing the same things um and sort of getting oriented in the same way. Uh I think that we will use the housing supply accelerator playbook and grow it based on what's possible thanks to the 21st century road. And yeah, yeah, and you know, and this is that will be important. Uh it'll take a couple years to be able to really document the the uh outcomes that we get from these different programs and program changes, but it'll be essential to document that. And and NLC is eager to highlight city stories across the nation, anyone who's doing anything in innovation. Um, because I think we talked about step two, which is you know, asking for the funding increases uh to be credible, to make that ask credible, we're gonna have to show and prove that cities were ready to take advantage of the regulatory changes that the that we're going to be seeing in the next year and two.

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 27:38

Yeah, I would agree uh in terms of everything Mike said around the partnership between APA and NLC being really pivotal. Um, having planners and elected officials at the local level working together is going to really strengthen implementation. A couple of pieces I would add is, you know, when you talk about the 12 to 24 month period for standing up some of these new programs, I think it's important for the community of local governments and local stakeholders to be vigilant and engaged in that process, providing input to the agencies who are responsible for writing the rules, creating a guidance to understand the real impacts of how these programs and how those rules can play out in the real world is going to be really important. So when I think about implementation, one of the steps is to help ensure that HUD or other agencies who are responsible get the rules of the road right in the first place. Um, secondly, you know, I think that the communities who are going to be best positioned to succeed quickly with these new tools are going to be ones that have done a good job of prioritizing housing, planning for housing, updating a variety of different uh local rules and processes. So the more we can do to encourage what's already happening out there in the country in terms of the innovation at the local level on housing, uh, those places are going to be well positioned to succeed because they'll be able to take advantage of the incentives that are there. They'll be able to, you know, immediately use some of the new tools. Don't want to scare off communities who aren't that far along yet because I think there's time to get there. Um, but a lot of the pieces of the bill are intended to incentivize that kind of behavior. And so um, you know, the more mature that process is in your community, I think the faster the fruits of the bill will be evident in your work.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 29:42

Yeah. Uh I mean, you heard it here first. Um, you need a plan. Um, and you need to be prioritizing housing supply, and you don't need to be waiting on that because we want you to take fully advantage of the uh new rules and the programs that are in this bill. Uh, I think with that said, um curious, Mike, uh, why are we holding this bill up as a good example of federal local partnership even when there is no guarantee of new funding? And how is it going to spark new public-private partnership? And Jason, I welcome your thoughts as well.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 30:26

Yeah, well, uh, you know, I think members of Congress will say you never get everything you want in a bill if you want it to pass too, right? And so we were um very intentional about looking across the provisions of the bill and identifying the ones that would be really important to local government and doing our best to make sure those survived in the through the process. One of those is um the CDBG disaster recovery program, which was subject to it was in the bill, then it was out of the bill, then it was in the bill, then it was out of the bill. And you know, you're you're hoping that um the bill that finally gets across the line is the one where it's in. And I will say really that the very last battle was around um getting CDBG disaster recovery, an annual appropriation, and standardized uh rules so that when cities um suffer a setback, a natural disaster like that, um the funds will there'll be more certainty about when and when those funds are going to be there and how those funds can be used. And because of the standardization, there'll be less risk of of clawback due to an misspenditure kind of thing. Uh so so um there's a lot of that to celebrate. And I just say I, you know, the the bill had to be revenue neutral, so the um the the authorizers of this bill they couldn't put in specific funding amounts necessarily or obligate the federal government to put new dollars there because they cannot kind of raise the entire federal budget to make sure those get funded. So the next step in the process, we're already talking to appropriation appropriators, appropriation staff, uh about what could, you know, how these funds could be potentially or how these programs could be funded. You know, I think that one area we've seen really, and this is good from a city's perspective, but but you know, um earmarks essentially, that account uh continues to go up. I think there's more funding for earmarks than there is for the CDBG program at this point. It wouldn't take too uh too much away from the earmarks account to move some of those dollars over to these new programs. Um, because you know, without the signal from Congress that, you know, they're going to be funded annually for as long as they're authorized, um, it's going to be hard for the market to accommodate that kind of public subsidy in housing.

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 32:52

There's uh there's an important philosophical shift here. Uh we talked about one of them earlier, which is sort of this focus on systems and supply, which is an important shift. There's another one um, which is diversity of housing type. Um, you know, I think this bill recognizes that depending on the market and the local context, you may be trying to produce different kinds of housing in different kinds of places, which sounds obvious and straightforward. But traditionally, I think the federal program has tended to either really be aimed at low-income, what you might think of as capital A affordable housing, or uh finance subsidies and systems that are aimed at the traditional uh single family market. This bill, in many nuanced ways, tries to broaden that framework a little bit. Um, there are more tools here if you're focused on workforce housing, as a for instance. So, you know, I think uh, you know, communities as they're thinking about how they get the kind of housing in the right locations to accomplish their overall objectives, they're going to be different levers that they can pull. And some of them will be direct to the city, but some will be in partnership, you know, helping helping your developers uh understand where new financing tools might be available, or um, you know, looking at some of the incentives that exist to try to, you know, encourage uh production of some of those different types. So I think this is a very different package in that, in that regard, and you know, we'll open up some some different avenues.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 34:36

Uh I appreciate you uh for saying and emphasizing around public-private partners and you know, it gets me thinking as to how cities can be thinking about what their communication outreach could be as it relates to uh this new uh private capital or private capital tools that uh will emerge because of this bill. So this brings me to my next question. Is this bill the solution to the housing crisis? I think that's my first one. And what kind of expectation do you think will be important for local governments to manage with this bill?

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 35:18

We are the solution to the housing crisis, right? I mean, it's it's it's uh communities across the country working um in partnership with with good developers that they've developed the trust and accountability necessary um to uh create the kind of housing that was envisioned from the beginning, right? Um the this bill is a good step forward. It's not uh the silver bullet, and it's not sufficient really to make a dent in the housing crisis in a in a long-term way until we get additional tools and especially additional funding. But I think, like I said earlier, the really important thing here to show is that cities uh the landscape is ready for a bill like this, and cities are ready to execute, and builders and developers are ready to execute, and lenders are ready to execute uh together because it takes all of us to put up a home.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 36:21

Agree. Jason?

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 36:23

I I I would say this bill is absolutely the right catalyst at the right time. It's focusing on fixing the exact systems that need to be strengthened and improved in order to leverage additional subsidies that come in to do more production. So uh I have to admit, I get a little frustrated when people talk about, oh, well, it's it's not it's not a magic bullet. Well, of course it's not a magic bullet. There is no magic bullet. Um, there's no one perfect policy that's gonna solve everybody's problems. Um, and that's okay. Um, I think the bigger picture here is it's been a long time since Congress came together to focus on, you know, what is the appropriate federal role in helping communities deal with housing. So there's a lot in here that I think reset the conversation and should empower communities to do the kind of work that they want to do and that they need to do, that in some cases they're already working on. So I see it as an accelerant and an important one. Um yes, I absolutely agree that there's gonna be more that will need to come in a second act, but hopefully this builds the right foundation for that future action. I sometimes uh remind our members that you know, all the better financing in the world isn't gonna build a house that you haven't allowed to be built yet, right? So we have to figure out how do we ensure that our systems and our plans are are where they need to be in order to leverage the funding that um some of which will come from this bill, but most of which, you know, will come through other sources.

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 38:08

Right. Well, and as, you know, I will say um just building on that, what what this is not a top-down bill, right? We we don't really want a top-down bill to solve the housing crisis because the the conditions across the country are so different. Economic conditions, the demographics of a community, the environmental concern, you know, issues, considerations within a community. Um, you know, the the kinds of housing that get built, um, those choices are appropriately made at the local level. And the 21st Century Road um respects that. You know, it's a bot bottom-up approach. It's really relying on localities and states and um the private sector uh taking these tools and putting them to use to really at the end of the day meet this national need that we all have, uh, but that looks a little different everywhere you look.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 39:04

Yeah, you know, um it's looking at the system, it's uh fixing things in the systems that have long needed to be addressed, and it's also um can be used as a catalyst to build that broad coalition of uh industries that need to come together, either bringing them together or reuniting. So I I appreciate y'all um comments uh around that. And um, my final question for both of you now that the bill is passed, what's next for the National League of Cities and the American Planning Association on the housing front?

Mike Wallace, Legislative Director of Housing and Community Development, National League of Cities 39:47

Well, you know, it's it's the big pivot from advocate consistent, uh, strong advocacy to really working with our members um individually, regionally, working with our state municipal leagues uh to make uh to try to help everyone get as ready as they can and to maximize the benefit of the bill to their their own communities. And and that's a that's a big job. As you know, you've both been critical to that effort around the housing supply accelerator or the America's Housing Comeback group, where we really are engaged with the private sector on these issues. Um and so I think that that's the project before us is to try to get everyone in a in a place where they're able to take advantage.

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 40:34

Agreed. Jason?

Jason Jordan, Public Affairs Director, American Planning Association 40:35

Yeah, I I would underscore that. It it's making sure that as many communities as possible are as well positioned as possible to use the new tools here to be successful. I think that it does provide an amazing new platform for the work we've been doing through the housing supply accelerator as communities look for solutions, as they look for what's working around the country, um, as uh this creates a catalyst for the kinds of conversations that can help communities make good decisions. You know, I feel like very often in the housing space, the conversations are about individual projects, which gets to be a very transactional negotiation, and rightly so. But this is a chance to step back from that and really talk about what does a community want and need in the housing space and how can these different partners deliver it? And I think it's our job to start by helping people understand what these new tools are, but then also what do they need to be doing in order to take full advantage of them?

Lauren Lowery, Director, Housing and Community Development at National League of Cities 41:46

Absolutely. The first place to start, read the housing supply accelerator playbook. Always yes. Uh, I want to thank y'all for joining CitySpeak today. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Jason. Your knowledge about the 21st Century Road to Housing Act is very valuable for local leaders and planners as they figure out how they can produce, preserve, and improve housing in their communities. If anyone wants to learn more uh about this bill, you could go to nlc.org or planning.org. And until next time, thank you for joining Cityspeak.

NLC 42:31

Thanks for listening to CitiSpeak with Clarence Anthony. If you like the show, let us know. Share this episode with your friends, and make sure to subscribe. We're curious to hear what you think, what you want more of, and how we can improve. If you have feedback or an idea for a guest you'd like Clarence to sit down with, send us your thoughts at Cityspeak Podcast at nlc.org. Join us next month for a new episode. Like and subscribe here or wherever you get your podcast. See you next time.