On May 16, the White House unveiled the Housing Supply Action Plan, which aims to close America’s housing supply shortage in the next five years, while easing cost burdens for homebuyers and renters.

Across the nation, housing affordability is a rising issue. In over 600 counties, at least 50 percent of residents who rent have spent more than half their household income on housing. The buying market also remains unattainable – the National Association of Realtors estimates that nearly 1 million renter households have been priced out of entering the housing market. The dramatic increase in home prices has led to the lowest level of first-time homebuyers in the past eight years.

To ease the cost burden, while increasing the housing supply, this new “all of government” approach seeks to utilize legislative and administrative actions. The plan is separated into four key initiatives, which work to address the housing supply shortage:

1. Providing incentives for land use zoning reform and reducing regulatory barriers
2. Piloting new financing and housing production and preservation
3. Improving and expanding existing federal financing
4. Preserving the availability of affordable single-family homes for owner-occupants

Within each of these initiatives, the White House outlines comprehensive actions both the administration and Congress will take in order to achieve each key initiative. Actions range from partnering with the private sector and issuing new guidance and regulations, to Congress passing new legislation and increasing appropriations for current programs.

For a comprehensive overview of the plan, click here.