Joe Biden made investments to expand affordable housing, but congressional gridlock limited efforts

President Joe Biden invested in his promise to expand affordable housing, but his initiatives represented incremental and temporary change. Congressional gridlock stymied his efforts to pass legislation for significant housing assistance.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included about $1 billion for affordable housing energy efficiency, but the housing funds that Biden initially tried to include in the bill — around $100 billion to construct and upgrade affordable housing — got left out of the final version. The funding that made it in is for energy and water efficiency and climate resilience in federally subsidized housing, all or almost all for renters.

The American Rescue Plan that Biden signed into law in 2021 included nearly $50 billion in housing and homelessness assistance, but that was largely for temporary emergencies.

The Biden administration also supported the Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2023. But the bill did not make it out of committee. The legislation would have created a national down payment assistance program for first-generation homebuyers, helping increase access to homeownership for people with less wealth.

In his final State of the Union address in March, Biden urged Congress to enact legislation to build 2 million more affordable rentals.

"Even though housing was not included in the Inflation Reduction Act, there was some movement to increase funding for affordable housing late in Biden's presidency," said Robert Silverman, a University at Buffalo urban and regional planning professor. "Of course, Trump campaigned on reversing the new (Housing and Urban Development) funding for housing so whatever isn't allocated is at risk of being clawed back when the Trump Administration takes over."  

That funding consisted of $185 million in grants the Biden administration unveiled over the summer as part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's PRO Housing program, which allows communities to build more homes and lower the costs of renting and buying a home. Communities can use the money to update housing plans, revise land use policies and streamline the construction permitting process. Grants are also used to preserve existing affordable housing units and provide subsidies to create new ones.

But housing experts reiterated that, although the executive branch has significant influence over access to affordable housing, it is not the only player.

"Congressional gridlock has prevented big legislative measures from being implemented, and state and local governments also have a great deal of influence on housing affordability, particularly in land use and zoning," said Aniket Mehrotra, a policy assistant in the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. "So, while the administration can influence and incentivize states and localities to loosen regulations to spur construction — which they have done through various grant programs — they can't control them."

The Biden administration was able to pull the levers at its disposal, experts said, and made changes to try to expand affordable housing access through various federal agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Transportation and Treasury departments. This included issuing new guidance, making regulatory recommendations and awarding grant money — all things that don't require congressional approval.

"There is evidence to show that much has been done in this administration to increase access to affordable housing to the extent possible," Mehrotra said. "But this is a multifaceted problem and we know that addressing housing affordability requires all levels of government. There's no one change that's making housing affordable for all."

Biden made strides to increase housing affordability, but experts say congressional gridlock limited his efforts. We rate this Promise Compromise.