HOUSING IMPACT ANALYSIS

This report is a guidebook designed to assist all levels of government in developing sound
policies regarding the impact of proposed regulations on the affordability of housing.
The need for an analytical tool that would permit policymakers to better assess the impact of
prospective rules and regulations upon housing costs, affordability, and housing markets has
been recognized for many years. In 1991, the Advisory Commission On Regulatory Barriers to
Affordable Housing in its landmark report, Not In My Back Yard, recommended the development
of a methodology that could be used to conduct a housing impact analysis. Throughout the
1990s, the Congress and many other governmental and nongovernmental institutions often
mentioned the need for these analytical tools.
In 2003 then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Me1 Martinez launched America's
Aflordable Communities Initiative: Bringing Homes Within Reach Through Regulatory Reform.
This Initiative reinforces HUD's commitment to work with states and localities to address
regulatory barriers to housing affordability. As part of the Initiative, the Office of Policy
Development and Research undertook a number of research projects to better understand the
nature of the problem and to develop new tools that would help in the development of sound
regulatory policies. A number of these projects, including development of a methodology to
assess housing impacts, were identified in the 2003 HUD report, WhyNot In Our Community?,
an update to the 1991 Advisory Commission report. This publication, Housing Impact Analysis,
is one of a series of guidebooks that are being developed to assist federal, state and local
governments address regulatory barriers.