On June 1-5, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Association of Homebuilders convened policymakers, industry representatives and the media for an Innovative Housing Showcase. The event, which highlighted efforts to promote housing affordability and resiliency for residents, included panel discussions, interviews and demonstrations with exhibitors, legislators and entrepreneurs. More information on the Innovative Housing Showcase can be found at this link.
NACo’s Associate Legislative Director for Community, Economic and Workforce Development, Daria Daniel, participated in a June 2 panel focused on state and local government efforts to boost housing affordability in our communities. As part of her remarks, Daniel emphasized that housing affordability is a critical issue for counties across the country and for the residents we serve.
County governments play a central role in housing through property assessments and the collection of property taxes, which serves as the top revenue source for local governments. However, as housing becomes less affordable in a county, local governments are confronted with a diverse set of challenges: rising homelessness (increasing the costs of health and human services), longer commutes (increasing the costs to maintain county-owned transportation infrastructure) and economic activity can stagnate when businesses have difficulty attracting employees who can afford housing in the communities.
In May 2019, NACo’s Counties Futures Lab released an analysis and toolkit outlining the scope of the housing affordability issues and county best practices. Given the central role counties play in housing affordability, NACo will continue to engage with our federal partners on similar events and to promote policies that improve housing affordability and resiliency for our residents.
For more NACo resources on housing, please see the following links:
- Affordable Housing Toolkit for Counties
- Building Homes: County Funding for Affordable Housing
- Planning Ahead: County Planning, Land Use and Zoning Strategies for Affordable Housing
- Policy Brief: Restore Funding for HUD HOME Investment Partnerships
- Policy Brief: Support Local Development and Infrastructure Projects Through the Community Development Blog Grant (CDBG) Program
