The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has rolled out a list of “regulatory best practices” for states and local governments to approach housing construction with the goal of cutting bureaucratic practices that HUD officials say add as much as $100,000 to the cost of buying a new home.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s March 2026 Executive Order 14394, “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction,” aimed at making housing more affordable and helping families become homeowners.
The recommendations fall into three categories of policies HUD would like state and local governments to address to reduce the burden on homebuyers: overall construction costs, the availability of land for housing, and the time spent building a house. HUD says all three areas could improve through greater use of technology and more transparency around local requirements.
Agency officials said in the three-page document that construction costs could be reduced by limiting fees, scaling back retroactive building codes and easing some labor and environmental requirements. The agency also expressed openness to modular and manufactured housing and called for repealing local requirements for electric appliances and heating systems.
The list also suggests speeding up the use of public land for housing development, particularly for middle-income earners. It further encourages expansion beyond major urban centers by reducing zoning restrictions and ordinances in outlying areas, including some related to tree preservation and wetlands protections.
To streamline construction timelines and avoid delays, the document outlines reducing time spent in the permitting process by prioritizing new home construction applications, imposing binding timelines and permit caps, ending multiple rounds of reviews and revisiting how local boards and commissions conduct hearings and resolve disputes.
Another significant feature involves who is allowed to perform inspections and reviews. HUD suggests allowing some inspections to be carried out by third-party inspectors and engineers and encourages contractor license reciprocity between states.
The recommendations are not mandatory, but they provide a roadmap for state and local governments that may be looking for ways to accelerate housing development and reduce construction costs as affordability continues to be a challenge in many parts of the country.
Photo by Deane Bayas from Pexels
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