Meeker PRO Housing Grant Opportunity

The Meeker Industrial Authority has officially announced the intent to submit an application for the Meeker PRO (Pathways to Removing Obstacles) Grant application.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Planning and Development FY24 Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) FR-6800-N-98.

Communities nationwide are suffering from a lack of affordable housing, and housing production is not meeting the increasing demand for accessible and available units in many urban and rural areas, particularly areas of high opportunity. Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) empowers communities that are actively taking steps to remove barriers to affordable housing and seeking to increase housing production and lower housing costs over the long term. Barriers to affordable housing may take the form of restrictive zoning designations, land use policies, or regulations; discretionary, costly or prolonged procedures; deteriorating or inadequate infrastructure; lack of neighborhood amenities; neighborhood opposition to new or affordable housing; or challenges to preserving existing housing stock such as increasing threats from natural hazards, redevelopment that reduces the number of affordable units, displacement pressures, or expiration of affordability requirements.

Across the United States, regulatory and other barriers have made it difficult to produce, preserve, and access affordable housing. Constrained supply drives up housing costs and reduces affordability. According to American Community Survey estimates in 2021, 39.3 million households (20.9 million renters and 18.4 million homeowners) have been classified as “cost-burdened,” spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Cost burden is even greater for underserved populations. Black families face affordability challenges as homeowners and renters more than any other racial or ethnic group, spending between 30 to 50 percent of their income on housing. In Puerto Rico, cost-burdened households face severe affordability challenges, spending between 50 to 90 percent of their income on housing. Limited access to housing has long-term effects on access to opportunity and ability to build generational wealth, especially for underserved communities of color and low-income people. Affordability challenges and the lack of affordable housing supply further increase eviction pressures and likelihood of homelessness for low-income people.