Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Last week, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), alongside Reps. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) and Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the agency to include the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) grant program in the President’s budget for the 2025 Fiscal Year. In the letter, the members described the challenges Americans face in securing affordable housing and pointed to zoning reform, as laid out in the PRO Housing grant program, as a proven solution to grow the country’s affordable housing supply. 

The PRO Housing grant program allows eligible entities to receive funding to address barriers to affordable housing, including outdated zoning, land use policies, or regulations. Crucially, this program focuses on areas of high opportunity, which is critical to remedy generations of housing discrimination and exclusionary zoning. In November 2023, the House version of the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill excluded funding for the PRO housing grant program. In response, Blunt Rochester offered an amendment expressing support for the PRO housing grant program’s inclusion in the bill, which passed the House in a 238-185 vote. 

“We are facing a housing crisis. Recent estimates show that we are 3.8 million units short of meeting demand for a growing number of households. This critical undersupply of affordable housing is even more acute for the lowest-income renters, who face a shortage of 7.3 million affordable homes,” the members wrote.

“There is a confluence of factors leading to this affordable housing supply shortage, but one thing is clear – restrictive zoning and land-use policies contribute to higher prices, fewer homes, and segregated communities,” the members continued. “We are encouraged by localities across the country working to address land-use and zoning barriers, but along with these efforts, additional steps must be taken if we are to meet the overwhelming need for affordable housing.”

“As Members of Congress, we will keep working to secure the inclusion of the PRO Housing program in the final appropriations bill and will continue to support your implementation of previously appropriated funds. Above all, we will continue our effort to lower living costs for working families. We urge you to include robust funding for the HUD PRO Housing grant program among your top priorities in FY 2025,” the members concluded.

The text of the letter can be found here.

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