To build an affordable housing future, we must look to the past

Across the U.S., in communities big and small, rural and urban, Americans are struggling with an unprecedented housing shortage.  

Some state and local leaders have stepped up and are implementing a wide range of policies in an attempt to build more housing. But there’s no end in sight to America’s housing crisis.  

Too often, missing from the conversation about the housing shortage is the importance of maximizing the existing building supply. We cannot build our way out of this crisis solely through new construction. Rehabilitating and reusing older and historic buildings must be a key part of our housing strategy. 

Approximately 40 percent of America’s current building stock is at least 50 years old — including many housing units in need of upgrades, repairs, and energy efficiency retrofits, as well as buildings that were originally built for something else. Office buildings now sit empty as the pandemic has shifted our work habits, while older factory buildings that will not again see industrial uses have sat untouched, sometimes for decades.  

Rehabbing these older and historic buildings for housing is often cheaper than building new ones. It’s also better for the environment, because rehabs use fewer materials and less energy than new construction. And often, the revitalization of a community asset has ripple effects on local economies and quality of life. Given these benefits, we must make the most of the opportunity these buildings provide to ensure our communities get the housing they desperately need.  

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency that I lead, is currently accepting public comment on a new federal government policy that would encourage both rehabilitating historic housing and adapting historic buildings not originally built for housing. If adopted, this policy will not only be incorporated into our own regulatory processes, which govern federal and federally-funded housing projects, but it will also be used to guide state, local, nonprofit, and individuals’ actions.  

We’ve drafted this policy to encourage more projects like the Appleton at Spring Flats in Washington, D.C., which we, jointly with HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, recently presented with a national award. 

Formerly the Hebrew Home for the Aged, the nearly 100-year-old building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It sat vacant for over a decade until non-profit developers recently completed a full exterior and interior rehabilitation. Today, the building provides 88 affordable age-restricted apartments, including 14 units for those who had been experiencing homelessness.

Leaders at all levels of government can take steps to make projects like this to become more common. New or enhanced historic tax incentives, zoning codes that legalize housing in older buildings (especially office buildings ripe for conversion), and expedited permitting processes and environmental reviews are just a few of the things included in our policy draft. These strategies are consistent with the Biden administration’s push for more housing, and more affordable housing, across all agencies that deal with housing.   

In addition to tribal, state, and local governments, preservationists must contribute too — taking a hard look at their own review processes and streamlining them to allow flexible and fast design reviews. Many review processes, including those conducted by local historic district commissions, use federal standards to determine whether an alteration, addition, or new construction is compatible with historic fabric. In tandem with this new housing policy proposal, we’re also analyzing those federal standards and hope to make suggestions about how they can be updated to better facilitate adaptive reuse projects.  

Ultimately, preservation has to be more about people than it is about bricks and mortar. With your help, we can identify strategies that harmonize our desire to honor our past with the imperative to meet the needs of the present.  

Sara C. Bronin is the chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency that promotes the preservation of our nation’s diverse historic resources, and advises the President and the Congress on national historic preservation policy.