# What the Healthy Affordable Housing Act Does

This bill creates a new federal funding program to help build, develop, or preserve affordable housing in neighborhoods that have a shortage of it. The Department of Housing and Urban Development would offer grants and loans to eligible organizations—including local governments, nonprofits, housing developers, and tribal entities—to create affordable homes in areas where they're needed most. The program would receive $100 million per year for five years (2025-2029) to fund these projects.

The key twist in this bill is that it prioritizes neighborhoods with specific amenities nearby. To qualify for funding, affordable housing projects must be located in areas that have at least one of the following: a health clinic that accepts Medicaid, a grocery store that accepts food assistance benefits, a pharmacy, a licensed child care provider, public transportation, or a federally qualified health center. Projects get extra preference if they're within a mile of two or more of these services, or if the housing building itself contains one of these amenities. The idea is that affordable housing works better when residents have easy access to healthcare, food, childcare, and transportation.

After homes are built or preserved with this funding, the government would survey residents every two years for ten years to see if living near these services actually improves their lives. They'd also track whether those nearby services stay open or move away. This research would help determine whether this approach to building affordable housing actually makes a difference for residents' health and wellbeing.