HR6327-119

What This Bill Does

The Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act targets USDA Rural Housing Service programs under Housing Act sections 501, 502, 504, 515, 533, and 538. When assistance under those programs supports construction or modification of residential housing on an infill site, the assistance may not be treated as a major Federal action requiring an environmental impact statement under NEPA section 102(2)(C). The bill defines an infill site as land served by existing infrastructure such as water, sewer, and roads, but excludes sites served only by a road, greenfields, and sites in FEMA National Risk Index census tracts with very high or relatively high wildfire, coastal-flooding, or riverine-flooding risk. USDA must report to Congress five years after enactment on whether the exemption reduced application review time and administrative cost, how it affected rural affordable housing, and whether Congress should revise related NEPA categorical exclusions or exemptions.

Who Benefits and How

Rural housing developers gain a faster path to USDA-backed infill projects because the bill removes NEPA major-action treatment for qualifying sites. USDA Rural Development loan applicants benefit from lower review friction under sections 501, 502, 504, 515, 533, and 538. Rural homebuyers and renters benefit if the exemption speeds construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing on land already served by infrastructure. The USDA Rural Housing Service benefits administratively if reviews become faster and cheaper.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Environmental review consultants and some permitting stakeholders lose work or leverage on qualifying infill projects because the NEPA major-action trigger is removed. USDA must implement the infill-site screen, track review-time and cost effects, and produce the five-year congressional report. Developers remain burdened by non-NEPA laws and by the exclusions for road-only sites, greenfields, and high-risk wildfire or flood census tracts.

Key Provisions

• Provides a NEPA exemption for USDA rural housing assistance on qualifying infill sites.
• Limits eligible infill sites to parcels with existing infrastructure and excludes greenfields, road-only parcels, and high-risk FEMA National Risk Index areas.
• Requires USDA to report within five years on review-time savings, administrative costs, rural affordable-housing effects, and future NEPA exclusion recommendations.
• Preserves legal requirements outside NEPA for USDA-assisted housing projects.