[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2363 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2363
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
July 21, 2025
Mr. Schatz (for himself and Mr. Banks) 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 2025''.
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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