[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3216 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3216

 To amend title 49, United States Code, to include affordable housing 
    incentives in certain capital investment grants, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 2, 2023

 Mr. Schatz (for himself and Mr. Braun) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 49, United States Code, to include affordable housing 
    incentives in certain capital investment grants, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Build More Housing Near Transit Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. AFFORDABLE HOUSING INCENTIVES IN CAPITAL INVESTMENT GRANTS.

    Section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph 
                (7); and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
            ``(6) Pro-housing policy.--The term `pro-housing policy'--
                    ``(A) means any State or local action that will 
                remove regulatory barriers to the construction or 
                preservation of housing units, including affordable 
                housing units; and
                    ``(B) shall include any State or local action 
                that--
                            ``(i) reduces or eliminates parking 
                        minimums;
                            ``(ii) establishes a by-right approval 
                        process for multi-family housing under which 
                        land use development approval is limited to 
                        determining that the development meets 
                        objective zoning and design standards that--
                                    ``(I) involve no subjective 
                                judgment by a public official;
                                    ``(II) are uniformly verifiable by 
                                reference to an external and uniform 
                                benchmark or criterion available to 
                                both the land use developer and the 
                                public official prior to submission; 
                                and
                                    ``(III) include only such standards 
                                as are published and adopted by 
                                ordinance or resolution by a 
                                jurisdiction before submission of a 
                                development application;
                            ``(iii) reduces or eliminates minimum lot 
                        sizes;
                            ``(iv) commits substantial publicly-held 
                        real property to the development or 
                        preservation of housing that includes a 
                        substantial number of dwelling units affordable 
                        to low-income households; or
                            ``(v) eliminates or raises residential 
                        property height limits or increases the number 
                        of dwelling units permitted to be constructed 
                        under a by-right approval process; and
                            ``(vi) carries out other policies as 
                        determined by the Secretary, in consultation 
                        with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
                        Development.'';
            (2) in subsection (g)(2), by adding at the end the 
        following:
                    ``(D) Eligibility for adjustment of rating for 
                project justification criteria for pro-housing 
                policies.--In evaluating and rating a project as a 
                whole for project justification under subparagraph (A), 
                the Secretary may increase 1 point on the 5-point scale 
                (high, medium-high, medium, medium-low, or low) the 
                rating of a project if the applicant submits documented 
                evidence of pro-housing policies for areas located 
                within walking distance of, and accessible to, transit 
                facilities along the project route.
                    ``(E) Consultation.--In awarding the increased 
                rating described in subparagraph (D), the Secretary 
                shall consult with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
                Development to develop the methodology to evaluate, as 
                feasible, the extent to which the pro-housing policies 
                documented by the applicant will result, through new 
                production and preservation, in an amount of housing 
                units, including housing units affordable below the 
                area median income, that is appropriate to expected 
                housing demand in the project area over the life of the 
                project.''; and
            (3) in subsection (o)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
                        ``and'' at the end;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 
                        period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) information concerning projects for which the 
                applicant submitted pro-housing policies under 
                subsection (g)(2)(D) and received an adjustment of 
                rating for project justification, including the pro-
                housing policies submitted and the amount of housing 
                units expected through new production and preservation, 
                including affordable housing, as a result of the 
                expected results of the policies, as measured under 
                subsection (g)(2)(E).''.
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