Some nice wins in the Executive Order on housing deregulation today. The first 2 are directives to federal officials and the last 4 are new HUD best practices for state & local governments. 1. NEPA categorical exclusions Council on Environmental Quality told to "maximally exempt" housing construction and enabling infrastructure (roads, water, sewer) from environmental review. 2. Historic preservation streamlining Advisory Council on Historic Preservation must issue guidance reducing Section 106 burdens on housing. 3. Permitting shot clocks HUD's best-practices guidance must include "capping permitting timelines and fees." This copies Texas's shot clock, where permits must be addressed by a deadline or they're automatically approved. 4. Third-party inspections Builders could hire private certified inspectors instead of waiting on backed-up municipal inspectors. A real bottleneck fix in high-growth jurisdictions where inspection wait times can add weeks to a project. 5. "Non-evidence-based building codes" Calls for curtailing code mandates that increase costs without clear safety justification. The "non-evidence-based" language is a hook for challenging provisions like single-stair bans. 6. Manufactured housing deregulation Direct shot at local zoning that bans manufactured/modular homes for being manufactured, even when they meet the same safety standards as stick-built. Also flags aesthetic requirements as a barrier.