AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city of Austin $6.7 million to help boost housing supply and lower housing costs.
The funding is part of $100 million in grants to 18 winners across 15 states aimed at building more homes. Grants are provided through HUD’s Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program, to remove barriers to local housing production.
It comes after HUD granted $85 million to more than 20 communities in July 2024.
“We need to build more homes to meet the needs of our growing communities – and we need to deploy every strategy available,” said HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman. “The Biden-Harris Administration has been laser-focused on providing resources to local leaders to boost the supply of affordable housing. Today, we are delivering a historic $100 million to lower housing costs by removing barriers to building more homes to rent and buy.”
According to HUD, PRO Housing helps communities continue to address restrictive land use or regulatory policies; improve and implement housing strategies; invest in local neighborhoods and increase community resilience; and facilitate the construction of new housing and repairs to existing homes.
“With less than a week left, we’re ensuring that cities that have demonstrated both need and good use of our dollars are empowered to put more Texans in the housing and neighborhoods they’ve worked so hard for,” said HUD Regional Administrator Candace Valenzuela.
Common barriers to housing include the high cost of land and development, lack of available units, underutilized vacant land and property, aging housing stock, inadequate infrastructure, displacement pressures, risks of extreme weather or environmental hazards and outdated local land-use and permitting policies and processes, HUD said.
Other recipients include Sacramento, California; Oakland, California; Portland, Oregon; Toledo, Ohio; Tucson, Arizona; St. Louis; San Francisco; Cincinnati and Detroit.