IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
California’s housing crisis could be eased by a new federal law that will remove some barriers to housing construction, according to one lawmaker who helped get the legislation through Congress.
The bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing law, which took affect July 11, is a “major milestone” in the state’s effort to get more houses built as soon as possible, said Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario.
“It’s one of the most significant pieces of federal housing legislation in years,” Torres told the crowd at the housing attainability conference hosted July 31 by the Building Industry Association of Southern California and National Core at the Ontario Convention Center.
‘It recognizes something that everyone here already knows, that there is no single solution to America’s housing shortage. We can’t build our way out of the crisis, can’t be solved by affordable housing, rental assistance, or home ownership programs alone.
It’s pie-in-the-sky to believe that.”
The law’s incentives includes encouraging communities to rezone so it will be easier and quicker to build houses. In exchange for that, those communities will be eligible for greater amounts of funding for housing from the federal government.
It also directs the U.S, Department of Housing and Urban Development to help states and local governments modernize their housing policies to make it easier for them to develop manufactured housing.
“Everyone is trying to fight the problem, but no one has all of the answers, and no one is going to solve the problem by themselves,” Torres said, echoing a sentiment expressed by several panelists who addressed different aspects of the state’s housing shortage.
“The problem can’t be solved locally.”
