The Biden administration announced Thursday a series of steps it’s taking to address what it calls a housing supply and housing affordability problem.

The actions, which building upon President Joe Biden’s Housing Supply Action Plan, aim to reduce barriers in building affordable housing, expand financing for projects and promote commercial-to-residential conversions. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching an $85 million program that will award grants of up to $10 million to jurisdictions with acute affordable housing needs and are working to identify and remove barriers to housing construction and preservation. Funding can also be used for planning and policy activities for higher-density zoning and rezoning for multifamily or mixed-use housing. 

The goal, officials said, is to remove roadblocks such as land-use laws and zoning regulations that limit where and how densely housing can be built. 

“We are making generational investments in communities, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that they are advancing our goals on housing supply,” Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s domestic policy adviser, told reporters.

The Biden administration is also expanding financing opportunities to create and repair affordable housing. The federal government is providing new financing for affordable, energy-efficient and climate-resilient units and clean-energy investments. 

For example, the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month announced a $27 billion fund designed to spur greater private investment and provide financing for thousands of clean-energy projects, including retrofitting homes and buildings and constructing zero-emissions buildings. Meanwhile, HUD is making $830 million in grants and loan subsidies available to modernize existing HUD-assisted affordable homes to they remain available for families for years to come.

In addition, the federal government is hoping to take advantage of vacant commercial properties by converting them into homes. Doing so could not only add to housing supply, but also help revitalize struggling local economies, administration officials said.

The White House will lead a new interagency working to group to develop and advance federal funding opportunities for commercial-to-residential projects. HUD announced Thursday that funding from the 2021 infrastructure law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act can be used for such conversions.

“By increasing the supply of housing, we will then be able to find opportunities where young people who are looking for a new rental unit are not competing with 10, 12, 20 other individuals or folks who want to buy a home, first-time homeowners, they're not in a bidding war,” said Deputy HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman. “This is why supply matters, because we know than we need more units that people need.”

The Biden administration said it’s also working to protect renters, including by ensuring renters have an opportunity to address incorrect tenant screening reports, providing new funding to support tenant organizing efforts and guaranteeing renters are given fair notice before evictions.

“These actions deliver on a vision of a housing market that works for all Americans,” Tanden said.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Adrianne Todman's last name.