This week's newsletter includes stories on:
- The far left winning state elections in Berlin, Germany, on the promise of municipalizing 225,000 private apartment buildings.
- A zoning and religious freedom case out of Idaho, in which a college founded by controversial "Christian nationalist" pastor Doug Wilson is claiming discrimination at the hands of Moscow planning officials.
- A new report on how the housing shortage is driving up poverty rates.
asserted
shortage → include → rates
But first, we have our lead story on the Trump administration's progress on implementing the president's affordable housing executive order.
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we → have → order
Back in March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to reduce regulations and red tape affecting the permitting and construction of new housing.
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Trump → issue → housing
As has been discussed in the context of the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, the federal government generally plays a minimal role in setting land use regulations that govern the siting and approval of new homes.
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that → discuss → homes
Zoning and permitting are primarily done by local governments.
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Zoning → do → governments
For the most part, therefore, Trump's "Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction" order directs agencies to pare back the regulations it attaches to federal housing subsidy programs.
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it → remove → programs
It also directs them to advise local and state governments on ways they could increase home construction.
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they → direct → construction
To that latter end, in May, the Department of Housing and Urban Development published a list of "best practices" for state and local governments that encourages them to adopt permitting shot clocks and zone more land for single-family home construction.
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that → publish → construction
(This reflects the second Trump administration's general approach to housing policy, which focuses on encouraging more single-family home construction while saying nothing about increasing residential densities.)
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which → reflect → densities
In the same month, the Department of Energy requested input on how it could change its evaluation of state and local building codes to better account for the costs imposed on consumers by energy efficiency standards.
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it → request → standards
In August, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) also proposed eliminating the energy efficiency standards it imposes on housing subsidized via various rural housing programs.
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it → propose → programs
The USDA argued in its proposed rule-making that housing subsidized by those programs already must comply with state and local standards, making federal requirements duplicative.
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requirements → argue → standards
The real substantive deregulation of private homebuilding activity stemming from the order comes in the area of environmental permitting.
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deregulation → stem → permitting
As mentioned, states and localities are the ones who determine where new homes can be built.
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homes → mention → ?
During the construction phase, homebuilders must comply with federal rules controlling stormwater runoff into streams and lakes and the like.
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homebuilders → comply → streams
In brief, residential construction projects that disturb one or more acres of land must comply with the requirements of a "construction general permit" that attempts to limit the amount of sediment that runs off sites into water systems.
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that → disturb → systems
To prevent that runoff, builders will typically install silt fences around construction sites and stabilize piles of disturbed soil by matting or compacting it.
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builders → prevent → it
The construction general permit also requires builders to monitor and report soil runoff to EPA or state officials and to follow specific timelines for stabilizing soil to prevent runoff.
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permit → require → runoff
These are all technically federal requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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These → set → Agency
However, the EPA only directly sets construction general permit requirements for three states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico), the District of Columbia, some U.S. territories, and tribal lands.
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EPA → set → Columbia
Everywhere else, EPA has delegated administration of stormwater runoff regulations to the states.
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EPA → delegate → states
Regardless of whether the permit is administered by the EPA directly or by the states, its requirements impose costs on builders, says Evan Branosky, an environmental policy expert with the National Association of Homebuilders.
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Branosky → administer → Homebuilders
The installation of silt fences and soil stabilization efforts have a direct cost, he says.
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he → have → cost
Monitoring requirements and timelines for installing silt fences and the like also raise the cost of construction.
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Monitoring → monitor → construction
Branosky says that builders often must retain third-party contractors to immediately repair fences and stabilize soil to keep in compliance with permit requirements.
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builders → say → requirements
The requirements of the construction general permit are updated every five years.
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requirements → update → permit
In August, the EPA proposed a host of reforms to the forthcoming 2027 construction general permit.
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EPA → propose → permit
In keeping with Trump's executive order, the proposed changes generally attempt to make the permit less costly to comply with by reducing the amount of information about stormwater runoff builders would have to submit to EPA and the frequency with which they'd have to report that information to the agency.
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they → keep → agency
"EPA's proposed changes are specific and targeted, including commonsense flexibilities such as streamlining and simplifying some requirements to reduce unnecessary costs to permittees," said the EPA in a statement to Reason.
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EPA → propose → Reason
Branosky says homebuilders are generally pleased with the proposed changes.
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homebuilders → say → changes
He did offer some criticism of a proposal to have builders upload stormwater management plans to an online, publicly available portal.
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builders → offer → portal
Builders' mitigation efforts often change during the course of construction.
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efforts → change → construction
Having builders file a point-in-time plan could open up builders to litigation over their mitigation plans that are outdated.
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that → have → plans
The EPA says that it hopes to unveil final revisions to its construction general permit in advance of the current permit's expiration in February.
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it → say → February
These changes would only apply in the few states and territories where the EPA directly administers the construction general permit.
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EPA → apply → permit
But the new, streamlined requirements could serve as a model for states to update their own construction general permits, says Judge Glock, the director of research at the Manhattan Institute.
"It's an open debate how much the EPA permits and exhortations have on the state permits," says Glock.
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Glock → serve → permits
The EPA's oversight of state permits, as well as its power over federal clean water grants, does at a minimum give it significant influence over state policy.
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oversight → give → policy
In a brief published in February by the Manhattan Institute, Glock said that the water impacts of runoff from construction sites are minimal compared to other industrial and agricultural uses.
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impacts → publish → uses
He also argues that it's debatable whether federal stormwater regulations should even apply to construction sites.
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regulations → argue → sites
There's a colorable argument that the EPA could remove its requirements on residential construction sites altogether.
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EPA → be → sites
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
