he did not talk about project 2025 project 2025 designed to prepare for a potential conservative Administration the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term just an incredible assortment of idiotic policy proposals that seem designed to wreck our cities lately the news and social media have been a buzz about project 2025 a conservative political initiative that if successful could have major lasting impacts on American communities and the people that call them home in this video we're going to into what project 2025 really is and what exactly its housing policy recommendations could mean for renters homeowners planners the unhoused and the nation's ever expanding housing affordability crisis but first what is Project 2025 well in their own words project 2025 is a historic movement brought together by over 100 respected organizations from across the conservative movement to abolish the Deep State and return government to the people also known as the 2025 presidential transition project project 2025 is Essen a wish list of conservative Federal policies that the Heritage Foundation and its supporters want to enact in the next Republican Le Administration it encompasses not only policy recommendations but also a training program and a highly detailed plan to place conservative friendly public officials within federal agencies to Champion and prioritize conservative ideals and to Sid step the checks on power that prevented some of the more controversial elements of Trump's 2016 through 2020 agenda this document contains a wide array of policies but perhaps most immediately relevant for planners and planning adjacent professionals are its housing policies outlined in chapter 15 in the words of plan Edison blogger and associate professor at turo Law Center Michael Luen project 202's housing policy wish list encapsulates the longtime tension between conservatives preferences for Less government and thus less zoning and local control which typically means more regulation since local governments tend to favor restrictive zoning here's what they mean by that despite the fact that chapter 15's authors acknowledge the US's housing supply problem and write that regulation quote has been estimated to account for about 40% of new housing unit costs project 202's mandate opposes any efforts to weaken single family zoning citing the protection of local autonomy however as plan Edison Michael Luen points out in his blog post this presents quite the dichotomy in his words the interest of individual localities are not always the interest of the nation as a whole each individual locality has an incentive to increase property values to make homeowners happy and increase the municipal tax base but States and the nation have an interest in making housing more affordable to increase home ownership rates and reduce homelessness now according to Urban housing experts making housing more affordable can only happen by building more highdensity affordable housing apartment complexes in mixed use neighborhoods plainly put single family zoning means lower density neighborhoods which in turn means fewer higher pric housing units another policy recommended by project 2025 is mandate is pushing for 15 and 20-year mortgage terms for lower income firsttime buyers by making it more costly for them to to get FHA backed mortgage insurance on 30-year mortgages the document's authors claim it would encourage quote wealth building home ownership opportunities but with only 15.1% of renter households in the US currently able to afford an average priced home in their area according to Zillow this policy would in all reality be more likely to put home ownership even further Out Of Reach for lower and middle- inome families project 2025 also wants to eliminate the new housing Supply fund which provides resources to community development financial institutions and nonprofit affordable housing organizations instead of providing funding to support the construction of new lower cost housing which the chapter's authors assert will not self the problem they want developers to quote deliver at more efficient cost new units that will allow for greater upward mobility of rental and ownership housing stock and better Target increased construction of mid-tier rental units which brings us to our final question how is Project 2025 aiming to change Federal housing assistance perhaps unsurprisingly the document seeks to severely curtail Federal housing assistance programs which could impact a wide range of lower inome households immigrant households and the unhoused project 2025 calls for a complete restructuring of Hud starting with the removal of civil service protections the plan is to replace the top tier of federal housing officials with politically aligned appointees who are motivated to dismantle Progressive and Equity focused policies that in their view have led to an over Reliance on government programs and subsidies the document proposes barring non-citizens and that means both documented and undocumented immigrants as well as their us born children from living in ferally assisted housing project 20125 advocates for the repeal of the affirmatively furthering fair housing regulation reinstated under the Biden Administration this move would dismantle protections that ensure Fair access to ferally funded or subsidized housing for women racial and ethnic minorities lgbtq people disabled individuals veterans and other protected groups project 2025 strongly opposes housing first approaches that prior getting people with substance abuse or mental health issues off the streets and into housing regardless of whether they're still using drugs or have untreated mental illness instead the initiative proposes requiring individuals to prove that they're drug-free and actively seeking employment before qualifying for federal housing benefits finally the plan also includes selling off existing public housing where local governments believe the land could be put to better use that better use of course comes down to the discretion of municipalities this could lead to a significant reduction in the availability of affordable housing especially in urban areas where land is at a premium so what does all of this mean for the future of housing in America well project 2025 presents a vision that prioritizes local control deregulation and Market driven Solutions as we look ahead it's crucial for planners policy makers and citizens alike to critically examine these proposals and to consider their long-term impacts on our communities housing isn't just about bricks and mortar it's about people stability and the opportunity for a better life [Music]