# The RESIDE Act: Converting Empty Buildings Into Homes

The RESIDE Act creates a five-year pilot program designed to turn abandoned commercial buildings into affordable housing. The federal government would set aside up to $100 million per year (from 2027 through 2031) to give grants to local governments and housing organizations that want to convert old warehouses, factories, malls, and hotels into places where people can actually live. The goal is straightforward: take buildings that are sitting empty and deteriorating in communities and transform them into affordable homes.

To qualify for these grants, buildings must be genuinely blighted and abandoned. This means they've either failed safety inspections with the owner refusing to fix them for at least 90 days, or they're already under court order as a nuisance property. The converted housing must be affordable, meaning it serves people earning between 60 to 120 percent of the area median income depending on the project structure. Individual grants would range from $1 million to $10 million, giving communities real money to work with for major renovation projects.

The program prioritizes communities that need it most. Local governments get extra consideration if they're converting buildings in economically distressed areas, opportunity zones designated for investment, or places where housing shortages have been identified in their community plans. The bill also rewards cities and towns that have reduced red tape around converting commercial buildings to residential use, as long as they haven't weakened safety standards. Once the pilot program ends in 2031, the federal government must study and report back to Congress on whether the program actually worked—did it increase affordable housing, help elderly people and veterans find homes, boost local tax bases, and clean up blighted neighborhoods?