As part of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s WGA Chair initiative, Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West (BRAND West), WGA convened national housing experts to discuss strategies for addressing these growing challenges.    

For this webinar, WGA was joined by Benjamin Preis, the Director of the National Housing Crisis Task Force and a Senior Research Fellow at the Nowak Metro Finance Lab within Drexel University's Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation; Cheryl Cohen, the Housing Division Administrator at the Montana Department of Commerce and the Executive Director of the Montana Board of Housing; Megan Yonke, the Senior Housing Policy Advisor for the Office of Colorado Governor Jared Polis; and Robert Henson, a Senior Housing Policy Specialist at the National Council of State Housing Agencies.   

First and foremost, the webinar’s presenters spoke about the need to expand rental assistance and affordable housing programs, including housing choice vouchers, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  

“It's very important for Congress to recognize this full suite of tools that are available to states to develop affordable housing,” Robert Henson said. “As the federal government's footprint or role shifts and changes, I think the role of the state [Housing Finance Authorities] is going to increase and grow in importance exponentially because... HFAs are uniquely situated to be able to continue to deliver benefits to low-income households that need a place to rent or live.”   

They also discussed the need to limit regulatory burdens within the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the Davis-Bacon Act to reduce costs and streamline development timelines. By addressing these regulatory hurdles, experts believe the federal government can unlock billions of dollars in new housing investment without additional taxpayer burden. 

“We're seeing partners who don't want to accept [federal] home funds at all because [the Davis-Bacon Act] automatically comes with a 20% increase for residential projects,” Megan Yonke said. “Also, NEPA has really gotten out of control with its regulation of vapors as well as regulating water from downstream sources. So, just a lot of room for some commonsense reforms to both of those pieces of legislation to allow home dollars to go further.”  

Finally, the webinar’s participants spoke about strategies that individual states can deploy to better leverage any federal support they receive, including zoning updates to allow ADUs, duplexes, and mixed-use housing; funding initiatives to expand housing infrastructure; and regulatory reforms to allow cooperative housing models as an alternative for long-term affordable rentals. 

Watch the full webinar below.