Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act

This bill tells HUD to speed up and simplify environmental reviews for many housing activities so homes can be built or fixed faster. Some actions would be treated like exempt from extra review, such as rental assistance, supportive services, operating costs, certain economic development costs not tied to construction, help for homebuyers, some pre-development steps, approvals of added assistance to already approved projects, and emergency help to fix essential home utilities . Other projects could use lighter, “categorical exclusion” reviews if they don’t significantly change the environment or the project’s original scope. Examples include small repairs to existing streets and pipes, rehab of 1–4 unit homes, very small-scale new construction (up to four scattered homes), modest upgrades to buildings with 5–15 units, converting offices to housing with limits, small new housing projects with 5–15 units, larger scattered-site projects with no more than 15 units per site, infill housing, and voluntary buyouts in flood‑risk areas .

HUD must also send Congress a yearly report, starting two years after the law takes effect and continuing for five years, to show if review times and administrative costs are going down, especially for affordable housing, and to suggest any further updates to what counts as excluded or exempt .

• Who is affected: Local governments, housing agencies, nonprofits, builders, landlords, renters, and homebuyers using HUD programs .
• What changes: More housing activities face faster or simpler environmental checks, with clear limits on size and scope (for example, 1–4 unit rehabs; 5–15 unit projects; office-to-housing conversions with no more than 20% size change) .
• When: HUD updates its rules after the law passes; annual progress reports start two years later and run for five years .