The White House on Friday announced a plan to turn vacant commercial properties into affordable housing. The multiagency plan would fund more than $35 million in below-market-rate loans meant to encourage states and cities to convert used office buildings into housing units.
The White House is releasing a Commercial to Residential Federal Resources Guidebook with more than 20 federal programs across six federal agencies that can be used to support conversions. Those programs include low-interest loans, loan guarantees, grants and tax incentives for developers.
The idea is to provide housing that is affordable, energy efficient, and near transit and good jobs in both downtown urban areas and rural main streets.
“This presents an area of opportunity to both increase housing supply while revitalizing main streets. It’s a win-win,” said Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council. “We’re utilizing resources from across the government.”
The federal government also will conduct training workshops this fall for local and state governments, real estate developers, owners, builders and lenders on how to use federal programs for commercial to residential conversions and achieve additional goals including affordability and building zero emissions housing.
The White House noted that, since the pandemic, more Americans are working remotely while office buildings sit idle.
“More than one third of households report working from home more frequently now than they did before the pandemic, and workers go to the office about 3.5 days a week, a 30% reduction from pre-pandemic norms,” according to a blog post released Friday by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “The changes are squeezing the commercial real estate market, which is dominated by office buildings but also includes hospitality and healthcare facilities.
Several federal programs already exist that support commercial-to-residential conversions, according to the White House, such as the Housing Supply and Action Plan and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant.
