America's Affordable Communities Initiative

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is committed to helping communities across America identify and overcome regulatory barriers that impede the availability of affordable housing. Through the removal of burdensome regulatory barriers, we will work together to open more doors to hard-working American families who wish to buy or rent an affordable home in the community of their choice.

About the Initiative

• Initiative Overview
• Bringing homes within reach through regulatory reform
• Frequently Asked Questions
• HUD Helping Communities Create Affordable Housing Through Regulatory Reform (March 2004 Brochure)
• Federal register notices
• Press releases, speeches, and newsletters
• Knocking down barriers to affordable housing
• Reducing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing

• National Call to Action (www.huduser.org/rbc/nca/index2.html): HUD is launching a National Call to Action to spawn a nationwide movement to encourage the production of affordable housing through regulatory reform.
• National Call to Action Symposium
• Robert L. Woodson Jr. Awards Program
• Affordable Community Initiatives Awards Application
• Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse (www.huduser.org/rbc/)
• HUD hosts Affordable Housing Roundtable!
• HUD hosts third annual Affordable Housing Roundtable
• Campaign for Affordable Housing meets with HUD
• Nation's counties support HUD's initiative
• Hillsborough County, Florida answers HUD's call!
• Ormond Beach, Florida answers HUD's call!
• Announcement of incentive criteria on barrier removal in competitive funding allocations

• Neighborhood reinvestment corporation supports regulatory reform
• Design advisor (www.designadvisor.org)
• NIMBY resources (www.hcd.ca.gov/hpd/nimby.htm)
• Strategies for producing affordable housing (www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/0103ch3.pdf)
• Local regulatory barriers in Waukesha County, WI (www.huduser.org/rbc/docs/milwaukee071102.pdf)
• Reducing the Cost of New Housing in New York City (www.law.nyu.edu/realestatecenter/CREUP_Papers/Cost_Study/NYCHousingCost.pdf)
• Creating a local advisory commission on regulatory barriers (www.huduser.org/publications/rbcpubs/creatinglocal.html)

• Former HUD Secretaries Kemp and Cisneros endorse HUD's effort to reduce excessive regulation (www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/governmentprograms/our_communities_our_homes.html)
• Federal Register notice to local governments and private industry to comment on HUD's effort to reduce regulatory barriers
• Regulatory Barriers: Secret (and Not so Secret) Weapons Against Affordable Housing (www.nw.org/network/pubs/brightIdeas/documents/issues_000.pdf) (Begins on Page 58 of the document)