Legislate state and local flexibility against federal zoning preemption

What has happened

1. Jul 11, 2026 Partially done

   The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act writes the non-preemption principle into statute three times and adds local flexibility in a fourth place, but only within the programs it creates. Section 107 directs HUD's Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research to publish guidelines and best practices for state and local zoning frameworks, then provides that nothing in the section "may be construed to permit" HUD to take an adverse action against a State or locality that declines to adopt them, and abolishes the Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse. Section 205 provides that nothing in it authorizes the Secretary "to mandate, supersede, or preempt any local zoning or land use policy", and § 103 that nothing in it preempts a State or local building code. Section 503 gives Continuum of Care recipients a route to waive the McKinney-Vento expenditure cap on the strength of "local needs and circumstances". This is legislation minimizing preemption inside new federal programs, not the general guarantee the Quote asks for, and the bills that would go further — the Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act (H.R. 1609, H.R. 1769, S. 1174) — were referred to committee and went no further.

   • Public Law 119-101, 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — § 103(f), § 107(e), § 205(c)(1) non-preemption clauses and § 503 local waiver authority

     Primary Congress Jul 11, 2026