The Biden administration on Friday announced a new initiative to convert empty office space into affordable housing, after the COVID pandemic upended office life across the country.
The Biden administration on Friday announced a new multi-agency plan to convert empty office spaces into housing as part of an effort to tackle a housing shortage while office vacancies reach a 30-year high. The White House announced moves to support the conversion of high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use, particularly near transportation hubs. The moves include financing, technical assistance and the sale of federal properties.
The Department of Transportation is releasing new guidance on how certain infrastructure funding programs with $35 billion in lending capacity can be used to finance housing developments near transportation, including the conversion of office blocks. "These downtowns and central business districts . . . are already designed and oriented around public transit," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Friday.
The White House is also releasing a guidebook with over 20 federal programs across six federal agencies that can be used to convert offices to houses — including grants and tax incentives. The initiatives come after the relationship between worker and office was overhauled in some sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with greater adoption of either hybrid or fully remote forms of work. This has left some property owners struggling with empty space.
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