This bill encourages more homes near public transit by adding housing-friendly policies to how certain federal transit projects are scored. If a city or transit agency can show it has “pro-housing” rules near the planned stations—like cutting parking minimums, allowing by-right approval for apartments using clear, objective standards, shrinking minimum lot sizes, using public land for affordable homes, or raising height limits or allowed units—the project can get a one-step boost on its 5-point rating for funding consideration. The bill defines these “pro-housing” actions and lets transportation officials, working with housing officials, set a method to estimate how many homes—including below-area-median-income homes—these policies will likely produce over the life of the project . The federal government must also report which projects got the boost and how many homes are expected because of the policies, including affordable units.

Key points:

• Who is affected: Cities, regions, and transit agencies seeking certain federal transit construction grants, and the neighborhoods near planned stations.
• What changes: Projects can earn a higher score if local rules make it easier to build and preserve housing—such as cutting parking minimums, allowing by-right multifamily housing with objective standards, reducing minimum lot sizes, using public land for affordable housing, and raising building height or unit limits.
• Oversight: Transportation and housing officials will set a way to measure expected housing results, and the federal government will publicly report which projects received the scoring bump and the expected number of homes, including affordable homes.