Sam Liccardo-backed housing package becomes law

Liccardo acknowledged that the housing act, including his own contributions to the package, is unlikely to have an immediate impact on housing prices.

“Is anyone going to see that relief in the next 12 months, or have an easier time buying a home in the next 12 months? The answer is almost certainly no, not as a result of this bill or this package of bills,” he said. “On the other hand, what this legislation targets is the critical need to expand housing supply, to build housing — and particularly affordable housing — faster, to eliminate barriers that add cost to housing, and all of that will bring benefit in the years ahead.”

Instead, the package is a first step to reducing roadblocks to housing construction, he said, including provisions that raise the cap on public welfare investments, make development of manufactured homes simpler and offer incentives to local governments prioritizing housing production.

Legislation that Liccardo worked on includes streamlined environmental review processes, the expansion of financing options for accessory dwelling units and the establishment of a federally-funded pilot grant program to assist local communities in turning vacant commercial buildings into housing. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees housing law, Liccardo has had access to the issue, he said, which will require continued, bipartisan commitment.

The RESIDE Act, which creates the pilot program for conversion of vacant office and commercial buildings into housing, is one example of how the Road to Housing Act is laying preliminary groundwork for further action, Liccardo said.

“We can expand into something much more impactful through the use of a tax credit, for example, that can help fill the gap that builders’ experience when they are trying to convert,” he said.

One piece of the package that’s been particularly attention-grabbing is a prohibition on how many single-family homes investors can purchase. While he’s supportive of purchasing constraints, Liccardo said he was not in favor of major restriction on build-to-rent homes and was pleased the legislation ultimately included a compromise that eliminated some of those requirements.

The fact that Democrats and Republicans were able to successfully compromise in general was, in itself, a win, Liccardo said.

“These are bipartisan muscles that have atrophied for decades, and we need to start exercising them — and the country critically needs us to start exercising them,” he said.

It’s a clear reality, however, that local and state governments, as well as the housing market itself, have a more direct role in the creation of new and affordable housing. That’s a factor that the federal government will need to keep in mind as it continues work in this arena, Liccardo acknowledged.

“Ninety percent of the action in housing development and construction lies somewhere between the local and the state levels of government, and so, you know, there’s much more we can do at the federal level, but ultimately, housing only gets built in a city or a county,” he said.