The Biden administration used Columbus as a backdrop Monday for a new plan aimed at addressing the nationwide shortage in affordable housing.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge made the announcement from a south Columbus residential construction site.
"[Columbus] is a community that is growing, they are feeling the pinch more than most because it's a growing community. But they also have people here, the housing professionals who know how to address the problem," Fudge said.
The plan includes about $10 billion in incentives for local municipalities willing to revisit their zoning and land-use policies.
The plan also calls for increased federal assistance to help finance and build more factory-built and multifamily housing.
"We cannot grow our communities and we cannot put people in place who need to live in communities if we don't stop saying everything has to be a single-family home," Fudge said.
Moody's Analytics estimates the U.S. is short more than 1.5 million homes, which Fudge said is a main driver of inflation.
The White House hopes to close the housing gap within five years.
To read the Biden administration's housing supply action plan in its entirety, click here.
