Delaware took a major step towards addressing its housing shortage with the release of a final report by the state’s Affordable Housing Task Force in April 2025. The report offers 9 policy objectives to guide the actions of state and local governments to build more housing:
- Objective 1: Increase/expand funding opportunity for affordable housing
- Objective 2: Implement local zoning reform
- Objective 3: Streamline the approval/permitting process
- Objective 4: Adopt a statewide building code
- Objective 5: Strengthen comprehensive plan requirements
- Objective 6: Provide incentives to developers to create affordable housing units
- Objective 7: Develop the construction workforce pipeline
- Objective 8: Assist in the purchase of manufactured home communities by homeowners
- Objective 9: Optimize and improve the capacity of existing programs/processes
Specific recommendations include a state appropriation of $100 million annually for the production of affordable housing, and the creation of a public-private development fund to increase the availability of low-cost loans for affordable housing developers.
The following zoning reforms and streamlining efforts were also recommended:
- Minimum density of 24 units per acre in multifamily zones
- Minimum density of 4 units per acre in single-family zones
- Minimum lot sizes should not exceed 5,000 sq ft for single-family detached units
- Maximum height limits should not be less than 60ft in multifamily zones
- Expedited review for projects meeting affordability criteria
- Allowing third-party reviews to qualify for developers to obtain certain permits
Representative Kendra Johnson, chair of the Housing Committee, and Senator Russ Huxtable, vice chair of the Housing and Land Use Committee, sponsored the enabling legislation and led the Task Force as co-chairs alongside leadership at the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA), including former director Cynthia Karnai and current director Matt Heckles.
Governor Matt Meyer acknowledged the effort in his 2025 State of the State address: “I am not a big fan of Task Forces, but their recommendations are action-oriented and set a path forward to address the massive shortage in quality housing for working people across our state.”
The legislation, House Bill 442, outlined the structure and timeline for the Task Force to follow. The 20-member Task Force, consisting of government officials, community organizers, and business leaders, formed 5 subcommittees: (1) Regulatory and Permitting; (2) Finance and Development; (3) Construction; (4) Manufactured Housing; and (5) Community Focus Groups. In the span of 8 months, the Task Force convened 6 times leading up to the release of the final report.
With a current population of just over 1 million, Delaware’s housing shortage is anticipated to grow from 24,000 units to 45,000 units by 2030. As a basis for their recommendations, the Task Force examined the current affordability of their housing market, taking the following steps:
- Express household incomes as a percentage of area median income
- Calculate a maximum monthly housing payment for each income range
- Estimate maximum home loans and purchase prices for each income range
Highlighting a particular challenge in meeting affordability needs, the report found that “approximately one-third of the cost to build the home is spent on acquiring and preparing the lot before actual construction begins.”
The Task Force also recommended the types of housing to develop should include “missing middle” housing, such as townhomes and duplexes, single room occupancies (SROs), small lot single family homes (5,000 sq ft), manufactured housing, and various sizes of multifamily units.
Additionally, to address immediate affordability challenges, the Task Force made several recommendations, such as funding rental assistance and home repair programs.
The full report can be found here.
