WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 2026 – David M. Dworkin, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), released the following statement on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed September 29 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to implement Section 802 of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the Streamlining Rural Housing Act:
“The National Housing Conference commends HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for moving quickly to put the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to work. Congress gave the two departments 180 days to reach this agreement. They did it in 80.
Speed matters because delay is expensive. Today, a rural housing development financed by both departments can face two separate environmental reviews and two separate physical inspections, each under slightly different rules. Every redundant step adds time, and every delay adds cost to homes these programs exist to make affordable.
If HUD and USDA bring the same urgency to the dozens of other ROAD provisions that still require regulations, procedures, or guidance, this law will deliver what Congress intended. NHC and our members are ready to help.
The agreement commits HUD and USDA to evaluate categorical exclusions for jointly funded projects, to create a process for designating a lead agency and adopting each other’s environmental assessments and environmental impact statements, and to determine whether a joint physical inspection is feasible.
Congress designed this to streamline without cutting corners. The law requires the agreement to maintain compliance with HUD’s environmental review regulations as they stood on January 1, 2025, and permits changes to categorical exclusions only through standard rulemaking. That is the right design: keep the protections that matter to residents and communities and don’t require the same project to clear the same hurdles twice.
We appreciate the leadership of Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Reps. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) and Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), whose bipartisan Streamlining Rural Housing Act turned this agreement from an aspiration into a legal requirement.
But an MOU is a framework, not a result. The real test is whether the developers, nonprofits, and state housing finance agencies that combine HUD and USDA resources see fewer reviews, faster approvals, and lower costs. The departments must report to Congress by July 11, 2027, and we hope that report documents those results, not just better coordination on paper.”
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About the National Housing Conference (NHC): Founded in 1931, the National Housing Conference is the oldest and broadest housing coalition in America. NHC is a diverse continuum of affordable housing stakeholders who convene and collaborate through dialogue, advocacy, research, and education, to develop equitable solutions that serve our common interest—an America where everyone is able to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community. Politically diverse and nonpartisan, NHC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. To learn more about NHC, visit www.nhc.org.