# Plain Language Summary: Pro-Housing Act of 2024

This bill creates a federal program to help communities develop more affordable housing by providing money and resources to states, cities, and local governments that want to tackle their housing shortages. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will offer three types of financial help: grants to plan housing solutions, grants to actually build those solutions, and low-interest loans to implement housing projects. The program will start within four months of the bill becoming law and will run through 2030, with $200 million available each year.

To qualify for this money, a community needs to show it has rising housing costs and not enough homes available. If a city or county gets a planning grant, they'll use it to study their housing situation—figuring out how many homes they need, what kinds of housing are missing, and what policies might help. They'll also have to talk with community members, builders, and housing advocates to make sure their plans work for everyone. If they get an implementation grant or loan, they'll use it to actually carry out their housing plans. Smaller communities (under 15,000 people) will only need to match 15 percent of the grant money with their own funds, while larger cities will need to match up to 45 percent. The bill also requires that at least 20 percent of the money goes to rural and smaller communities.

The bill also includes a separate program where the federal government will give unused government buildings and land to states and cities so they can turn them into affordable housing or mixed-use neighborhoods. This program will last for five years. Additionally, the federal government will create a learning network where communities can share what's working and help each other solve housing problems. After five years, the government will study how well the program worked and report back to Congress on what strategies actually helped expand housing supply and keep people from being pushed out of their neighborhoods.