Growing numbers of young and old Americans prefer to live in communities where they can walk to stores, school, services, parks and public transportation. But federal housing rules make it difficult to meet this demand. By capping the amount of commercial development permitted in federally-backed mortgages and programs, the rules make it hard to finance construction or renovation of three-to-four story buildings in many mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods. These rules, mostly devised for an earlier era to reduce perceived risks to federal investments, have a number of unintended but damaging consequences.
Americans want walkable neighborhoods, but development is not meeting this demand
Federal loan programs do not support the mixed-use, multi-family development essential to these communities
Financing rules reinforce concentrations of poverty
A range of actions could eliminate or reduce these impediments
