Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support local governments receiving federal infrastructure funds, directly or through state pass-through grant, in creating thriving communities and ensuring housing needs are addressed when designing and implementing infrastructure investments. Rather than providing monetary awards, this program will provide technical assistance (TA) that is specifically focused on integrating housing and transportation planning to support disadvantaged communities as local governments design and implement infrastructure plans. This program is intended to assist local governments with ensuring housing needs are considered as part of their larger infrastructure investment plans, while also supporting equitable development and local economic development ecosystems in disadvantaged communities.

Local governments may receive TA that focuses on one or more of the following areas:

• Preservation: preserving affordable housing and protecting residents and businesses from displacement as new infrastructure is deployed
• Regulatory reform: identifying and implementing regulatory and procedural reforms to reduce unnecessary barriers to location-efficient housing that impede housing production and increase development costs
• Land utilization: identifying and using vacant, abandoned, or underutilized land located on or near transportation projects that is suitable for housing development, including land owned by federal, state, and local governmental entities as well as the private sector, to create location-efficient housing
• Coordination: improving coordination among public entities, such as local housing, transportation, planning, and community development departments, and between public entities and state recipients of infrastructure funding; transit authorities and other quasi-public entities; the private sector; and locally based organizations, to support a holistic and regional approach to housing and transportation

The following types of TA are provided through this program:

• On-call technical assistance to resolve discrete, well-defined challenges through direct guidance of an expert consultant over a short period of time
• In-depth technical assistance to address strategic, complex programmatic, or multiple layered and inter-related challenges through direct guidance and coaching from a team of expert consultants over a period of several months

The recipient jurisdiction's staff will meet with program staff to determine which TA approach most effectively supports the project timeline and goals. Both TA approaches will also include access to training, tools, and other resources.

To be eligible for TA, eligible jurisdictions must request TA to address housing needs in relation to a federally funded transportation project. In addition, the infrastructure project must support equitable development and local economic development ecosystems in disadvantaged communities. Examples of how TA provided through this program may support the applicant's housing goals in connection with a transportation project include:

• A project to construct multimodal improvements and connect a disadvantaged community may include TA to preserve affordable housing in that community
• Creation of a new transit line may include TA to identify and implement regulatory reforms to speed permitting for multifamily construction along the planned line
• Development of a walking and biking trail may include TA to develop anti-displacement strategies
• Improvements in transit connectivity along a corridor may include TA to identify vacant or underutilized land the local jurisdiction could use to create location-efficient housing
• Revitalization of a rural main street may include TA to identify strategies to preserve and produce housing near the main street
• A transit project may include TA to capture land value increases caused by the development through creation of special assessment tax districts to fund affordable housing along the transit corridor

Eligibility is limited to applicants that have received federal transportation funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) directly or through state pass-through grants. Refer to the Eligibility section for details.