Build More Housing Near Transit Act of 2025
The Build More Housing Near Transit Act of 2025 would modify federal transit funding rules (the Capital Investment Grants program under 49 U.S.C. 5309) to give projects an added incentive to support nearby housing production, including affordable units. Specifically, it defines a new “pro-housing policy,” sets out actions that count toward this policy (such as removing parking minimums, enabling by-right approvals for multi-family housing with objective standards, reducing lot sizes, and dedicating public land to housing), and allows the federal Secretary to award up to an extra point in a project’s rating if the project area has documented pro-housing policies within walking distance of the transit project. The bill also requires consultation with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop methods to measure the housing outputs—units produced or preserved, including affordable units—that result from these policies, and it adds reporting requirements to track how pro-housing policies affected project justification ratings and housing outcomes. In short, the bill uses federal transit funding scoring to push states and localities toward adopting and implementing housing-friendly policies near transit, with a focus on increasing housing supply and affordability in areas served by transit projects.
Key Points
- 1Pro-housing policy defined and enumerated: The bill adds a formal “pro-housing policy” definition to 49 U.S.C. 5309, covering state/local actions that remove regulatory barriers to housing, including affordable housing. It lists concrete tools such as removing parking minimums, establishing by-right processes with objective standards, reducing minimum lot sizes, leveraging public land for housing, and increasing allowable dwelling units or height under by-right processes.
- 2Rating adjustment for pro-housing near transit: The Secretary may increase a project’s rating by 1 point on a 5-point scale if the applicant provides documented evidence of pro-housing policies within walking distance of transit facilities along the project route.
- 3HUD collaboration and methodology: The Secretary must consult with HUD to develop a methodology to evaluate how pro-housing policies translate into actual housing production, including units affordable to households below the area median income, over the life of the project.
- 4Expanded project justification reporting: For projects receiving a rating adjustment based on pro-housing policies, the bill requires including information about the submitted policies and the expected number of housing units (including affordable units) resulting from those policies in project justification reporting.
- 5Administrative changes to code references: Minor structural changes accompany the new provisions (e.g., rearranging subsections and adding cross-references) to implement the pro-housing criteria within the existing capital investment grant framework.