Key Environmental Review Reforms in the ROAD to Housing Act

The recently enacted 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes a key NAHB-backed provision that will streamline environmental reviews, reduce permitting delays and provide greater certainty for builders.

The law simplifies National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for small and infill housing projects by:

• Reducing duplicative reviews for certain federally assisted housing projects;
• Expanding the use of categorical exclusions for small residential rehabilitation and new construction projects of five to 15 units, helping projects advance faster and at lower cost;
• Exempting qualifying USDA Rural Housing Service-funded home building projects on infill sites from NEPA requirements; and
• Exempting certain HOME-funded infill housing, property acquisition, rehabilitation and small new construction projects from NEPA review.

The NEPA review process can be burdensome for home builders and delay housing development, even for projects with limited environmental impacts. These environmental provisions reduce regulatory barriers for infill and small construction while reducing duplicative, time-consuming reviews. The law also gives the Department of Housing and Urban Development greater authority to designate certain federal housing assistance as “special project funds,” which can allow state, local and tribal governments to assume environmental review responsibilities.

The law does not set a specific deadline for HUD to implement the new categorical exclusion changes. Those changes will apply after HUD updates its regulations and Congress appropriates funds after the new requirements take effect.

In the videos below, Robert Jackson, a North Carolina builder and chair of the NAHB Environmental Issues Committee, and Michael Mittelholzer, NAHB assistant vice president, environmental policy, explain how the law’s environmental provisions will benefit members.

For more information on land use, zoning, banking and other key provisions in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, visit nahb.org/road.