The White House released a report this week outlining ways in which state and local governments can encourage senior housing.

The Housing Development Toolkit, touches on barriers to senior housing development, and ways government can encourage such development — including density bonuses and streamlining permit processes.

The full list:

Source: Housing Development Toolkit

The report talks about the role of state and local governments in encouraging senior housing development:

Both states and cities have proven they can break free of the constraints that have stifled responsive supply and driven up housing costs across the country. While most states have devolved land use control to localities and remain relatively hands-off when it comes to land use planning, a number of states have begun to take a more active role in reducing regulatory barriers.

A strong baseline at the state level creates an even playing field for local land use decisions. Cities and other localities have the greatest opportunity to innovate in efforts to reduce barriers to housing supply, given their proximity to the effects of either a constrained or flexible supply. Without action, excessive local barriers drive up housing costs, undermining affordable housing at most income levels, and resulting in declines in homeownership. Demonstrated success in addressing these challenges can help overcome apprehension about neighborhoods evolving and growing through new development.

Then, the documents dives into the various strategies for encouraging development. Starting with permitting processes:

Permitting processes can introduce yet another source of cost and uncertainty in the effort to increase housing supply through production.

Unnecessarily lengthy permitting processes restrict long-run housing supply responsiveness to demand, and also present an inefficiency for city planners and reviewers whose time could be more effectively spent on essential tasks. Most localities’ permitting processes do not fully leverage new technology to achieve greater speed, reliability and efficiency.

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In 2000, the Austin City Council created the S.M.A.R.T. Housing program which offers developers of housing that serves low-income families waivers for development fees and expedited development review; since 2005, more than 4,900 housing units have been completed through this approach.

By incentivizing efficient permit processing at the state and local level, communities are  better positioned to accelerate development, resulting in increased housing production, more stability for contractors and construction workers, and less risk for investors.