President Trump issued an executive order (EO) Friday that seeks to increase homebuilding by, among other things, directing the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) to explore ways to reduce or streamline Section 106 consultations on housing and housing-related projects.
The EO, Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction, comes as housing affordability emerges as a major campaign issue in the 2026 midterm elections, and as Congress moves forward on bipartisan legislation to encourage more housing construction. The EO claims that “[l]ayers of unnecessary regulatory barriers, slow permitting processes, and onerous mandates at all levels of government have delayed construction, restricted development, and driven up the costs of new housing. These constraints have made housing less affordable for many Americans.”
The EO directs the ACHP to “develop guidance on maximally exempting, or reducing burdens on, housing construction and infrastructure that facilitates housing construction, such as roads, water, sewer, and other projects under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act so that reporting requirements are no more burdensome than necessary.”
Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), federal agencies are required to consider the effects on historic properties of any federal or federally assisted undertaking over which they have direct or indirect jurisdiction or have authority to license. Executive Orders cannot change the law but can require federal agencies to consider any and all legal ways to execute presidential policy preferences.
The EO also directs the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to provide guidance to federal agencies on the establishment and application of categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), “in a manner that maximally exempts or reduces burdens on housing construction, preservation, adaptive re-use, and infrastructure that facilitates housing construction, such as roads, water, sewer, and other projects.”
In addition, it directs the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to “review and revise requirements related to stormwater, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water to reduce housing construction and ownership costs, streamline regulatory and agency decision-making processes, reduce property tax burdens, and increase insurability, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.” The EO cites such existing requirements as the Construction General Permit for stormwater discharges from construction activity and federal standards for permits under section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
Lastly, the EO directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create a series of best practices for states and local governments to increase housing construction, including “streamlining permitting processes for housing developments by, for example, capping permitting timelines and fees.”