[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2019)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 30853-30856]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14016]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 84 , No. 125 / Friday, June 28, 2019 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 30853]]

                Executive Order 13878 of June 25, 2019

                
Establishing a White House Council on Eliminating 
                Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Purpose. For many Americans, access to 
                affordable housing is becoming far too difficult. 
                Rising housing costs are forcing families to dedicate 
                larger shares of their monthly incomes to housing. In 
                2017, approximately 37 million renter and owner 
                households spent more than 30 percent of their incomes 
                on housing, with more than 18 million spending more 
                than half of their incomes on housing. Between 2001 and 
                2017, the number of renter households allocating more 
                than half of their incomes toward rent increased by 
                nearly 45 percent. These rising costs are leaving 
                families with fewer resources for necessities such as 
                food, healthcare, clothing, education, and 
                transportation, negatively affecting their quality of 
                life and hindering their access to economic 
                opportunity.

                Driving the rise in housing costs is a lack of housing 
                supply to meet demand. Federal, State, local, and 
                tribal governments impose a multitude of regulatory 
                barriers--laws, regulations, and administrative 
                practices--that hinder the development of housing. 
                These regulatory barriers include: overly restrictive 
                zoning and growth management controls; rent controls; 
                cumbersome building and rehabilitation codes; excessive 
                energy and water efficiency mandates; unreasonable 
                maximum-density allowances; historic preservation 
                requirements; overly burdensome wetland or 
                environmental regulations; outdated manufactured-
                housing regulations and restrictions; undue parking 
                requirements; cumbersome and time-consuming permitting 
                and review procedures; tax policies that discourage 
                investment or reinvestment; overly complex labor 
                requirements; and inordinate impact or developer fees. 
                These regulatory barriers increase the costs associated 
                with development, and, as a result, drive down the 
                supply of affordable housing. They are the leading 
                factor in the growth of housing prices across 
                metropolitan areas in the United States. Many of the 
                markets with the most severe shortages in affordable 
                housing contend with the most restrictive State and 
                local regulatory barriers to development.

                These regulatory barriers impede our Nation's economic 
                growth. Hardworking American families struggle to live 
                in markets where there is an insufficient supply of 
                housing--even in markets generating a significant 
                number of jobs. One recent study suggests that certain 
                regulatory restrictions on housing supply have forced 
                workers to live far away from high-productivity areas 
                with the best available jobs, creating a geographic 
                misallocation of labor between cities that may have 
                decreased the annual economic growth rate in the United 
                States by 36 percent between 1964 and 2009.

                Low- and middle-income Americans are often hit the 
                hardest by regulatory barriers to housing development. 
                High housing costs place strains on household budgets, 
                limit educational opportunities, impair workforce 
                mobility, slow job creation, and increase financial 
                risks. Furthermore, studies have consistently 
                identified high housing prices as a primary determinant 
                of homelessness, and research has directly linked more 
                stringent housing market regulation to higher 
                homelessness rates.

                To help these populations, in 2018, the Federal 
                Government invested more than $46 billion in rental 
                assistance programs for low-income families--

[[Page 30854]]

                much of which grows at approximately 3 percent per 
                annum while assisting a fixed number of households. The 
                Federal Government provides additional housing support 
                through the tax code, with over $9.1 billion in tax 
                expenditures in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) 
                to developers of low-income housing. Generally, these 
                Federal tax dollars are focused disproportionately on 
                areas with high-cost and highly regulated housing 
                markets.

                But to improve housing affordability in a truly 
                sustainable manner, we need innovative solutions--not 
                simply increases in spending and subsidies for Federal 
                housing. These solutions must address the regulatory 
                barriers that are inhibiting the development of 
                housing. If we fail to act, Federal subsidies will only 
                continue to mask the true cost of these onerous 
                regulatory barriers, and, as a result, many Americans 
                will not be able to access the opportunities they 
                deserve.

                Sec. 2. Policy. It shall be the policy of my 
                Administration to work with Federal, State, local, 
                tribal, and private sector leaders to address, reduce, 
                and remove the multitude of overly burdensome 
                regulatory barriers that artificially raise the cost of 
                housing development and help to cause the lack of 
                housing supply. Increasing the supply of housing by 
                removing overly burdensome regulatory barriers will 
                reduce housing costs, boost economic growth, and 
                provide more Americans with opportunities for economic 
                mobility. In addition, it will strengthen American 
                communities and the quality of services offered in them 
                by allowing hardworking Americans to live in or near 
                the communities they serve.

                Sec. 3. White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory 
                Barriers to Affordable Housing. There is hereby 
                established a White House Council on Eliminating 
                Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing (Council). 
                The Council shall be chaired by the Secretary of 
                Housing and Urban Development, or his designee. The 
                Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the 
                Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, or 
                their designees, shall be Vice Chairs.

                    (a) Membership. In addition to the Chair and Vice 
                Chairs, the Council shall consist of the following 
                officials, or their designees:

(i) the Secretary of the Treasury;

(ii) the Secretary of the Interior;

(iii) the Secretary of Agriculture;

(iv) the Secretary of Labor;

(v) the Secretary of Transportation;

(vi) the Secretary of Energy;

(vii) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

(viii) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(ix) the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers;

(x) the Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental 
Affairs; and

(xi) the heads of such other executive departments and agencies (agencies) 
and offices as the President, Chair, or Vice Chairs may, from time to time, 
designate or invite, as appropriate.

                    (b) Administration. The Vice Chairs shall convene 
                regular meetings of the Council, determine its agenda, 
                and direct its work with the oversight of and in 
                consultation with the Chair. The Department of Housing 
                and Urban Development shall provide funding and 
                administrative support for the Council.

                Sec. 4. Mission and Functions of the Council. The 
                Council shall work across agencies and offices, with 
                consideration of existing initiatives, to:

                    (a) solicit feedback from State, local, and tribal 
                government officials, as well as relevant private-
                sector stakeholders, including developers, 
                homebuilders, creditors, real estate professionals, 
                manufacturers, academic researchers, renters, 
                advocates, and homeowners, to:

[[Page 30855]]

(i) identify Federal, State, local, and tribal laws, regulations, and 
administrative practices that artificially raise the costs of housing 
development and contribute to shortages in housing supply, and

(ii) identify practices and strategies that most successfully reduce and 
remove burdensome Federal, State, local, and tribal laws, regulations, and 
administrative practices that artificially raise the costs of housing 
development, while highlighting actors that successfully implement such 
practices and strategies;

                    (b) evaluate and quantify the effect that various 
                Federal, State, local, and tribal regulatory barriers 
                have on affordable housing development, and the economy 
                in general, and identify ways to improve the data 
                available to the public and private researchers who 
                evaluate such effects, without violating privacy laws 
                or creating unnecessary burdens;
                    (c) identify and assess the actions each agency can 
                take under existing authorities to minimize Federal 
                regulatory barriers that unnecessarily raise the costs 
                of housing development;
                    (d) assess the actions each agency can take under 
                existing authorities to align, support, and encourage 
                State, local, and tribal efforts to reduce regulatory 
                barriers that unnecessarily raise the costs of housing 
                development; and
                    (e) recommend Federal, State, local, and tribal 
                actions and policies that would:

(i) reduce and streamline statutory, regulatory, and administrative burdens 
at all levels of government that inhibit the development of affordable 
housing, and

(ii) encourage State, local, and tribal governments to reduce regulatory 
barriers to the development of affordable housing.

                Sec. 5. Reports. The Vice Chairs, on behalf of the 
                Council, and with the oversight of and in consultation 
                with the Chair, shall:

                    (a) within 12 months of the date of this order, 
                submit to the President a report on the Council's 
                implementation of section 4 of this order; and
                    (b) submit to the President any subsequent report 
                that the President may request or that the Council may 
                deem appropriate.

                Sec. 6. Agency Participation and Response. The heads of 
                agencies and offices shall provide such assistance and 
                information to the Council, consistent with applicable 
                law, as may be necessary to carry out the functions of 
                this order.

                Sec. 7. Termination. The Council shall terminate on 
                January 21, 2021, unless extended by the President.

                Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the 
head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.

[[Page 30856]]

                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    June 25, 2019.

[FR Doc. 2019-14016
Filed 6-27-19; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F9-P