Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

26. Trade · Minor · Contested — excluded from counts

Make zoning and permit rules less restrictive

Partially done

806 26. Trade · from “The Case for Free Trade”

“Trade adjustment could be made easier by regulatory reforms to remove its attendant friction. These include: … Less restrictive zoning and permit rules”

What has happened

  1. Partially done

    HUD and USDA jointly rescinded the 2024 Final Determination that had made new homes ineligible for FHA- or USDA-backed mortgages unless built to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, returning both loan programs to the standards in force before it. That is an actual federal building-code requirement removed, not a recommendation — the first piece of the ask delivered. HUD then issued the section 4(a) deliverable on 2026-05-20: the State and Local Best Practices for Home Construction Report, sorted into cutting construction costs, unlocking land for new housing supply and accelerating construction timelines.

  2. Attempted

    Executive Order 14394, "Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction", is squarely the Quote's ask. Section 4(a) requires HUD, within 60 days, to promulgate regulatory best practices for state and local governments including "capping permitting timelines and fees; allowing by-right development for single-family homes", third-party inspections, and "removing arbitrary limitations on residential housing development beyond urban centers, such as urban growth boundaries, growth moratoria, and commuting penalties". Sections 2 and 3 point EPA, the Army Corps, Commerce, HUD, DOT, FHFA, USDA, DOE, CEQ and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation at the federal permitting layer. On the signing date nothing had been issued.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • Contested Recommendation from “The Case for Free Trade”. The Quote is one line in the essay’s list of regulatory reforms that would ease trade adjustment; it is leveled on its own terms as an ask about zoning and permit rules.
  • partial and not done because zoning is state and local law: the federal government removed a federal code mandate and published recommendations, and cannot make a locality adopt by-right development. Further federal implementation is in train and proposed rather than final — USDA’s proposed rescission of Rural Development’s construction and repair regulation (2026-08-19) and FHFA’s proposed Duty to Serve replacement (2026-06-24) both cite EO 14394.
  • The HUD press index at hud.gov/news was the route to both events; it is the complete in-window list and carries dates on the index page (source-apis.md, round 5).
Action
other
Object
Zoning and permit rules
ID
2114