The ROAD to Housing Act and Opportunity Zones

Section 201 lets HUD give extra weight to housing grant applications in Qualified Opportunity Zones, and the RESIDE Act lists Opportunity Zones among its priorities. Here is what that means, and which buildings screened on this site sit in a zone.

Checked against the enacted text of Public Law 119-101 · Updated

At a glance

Section 201
HUD may give additional weight, in any competitive grant for building, modifying, rehabilitating or preserving housing, to projects located in or substantially and directly benefiting a Qualified Opportunity Zone.
Required?
No. The law says HUD “may,” and HUD decides which grants count as housing grants.
RESIDE
One of four priorities for RESIDE conversion grants, alongside economic distress, consolidated-plan needs and local ordinances that ease conversion.
Which zones
Census tracts designated under section 1400Z-1 of the Internal Revenue Code. The 2018 designations run through December 31, 2028; a new round takes effect January 1, 2027.
On this site
88 of the 99 buildings screened in Downtown San José sit in a 2018 Opportunity Zone tract, including 17 of the 18 that would pencil only with a RESIDE grant. None of the 310 buildings screened in Greater Downtown Denver sits in a 2018 Opportunity Zone tract.

What Section 201 does

Section 201, “Increasing housing in Opportunity Zones,” defines a covered grant as any competitive grant relating to the construction, modification, rehabilitation or preservation of housing, as HUD determines. When awarding one, HUD may give additional weight to applicants whose projects are located in, or substantially and directly benefit, a community designated as a Qualified Opportunity Zone. The section does not set how much weight, and it does not require HUD to use it.

Opportunity Zones in the RESIDE pilot

The RESIDE Act goes a step further for its own grants: HUD shall give priority to applicants that will use the money in a Qualified Opportunity Zone, in a community experiencing economic distress, to meet a need in their consolidated plan, or that have passed ordinances reducing barriers to converting vacant and abandoned buildings. A priority is not a requirement. A building outside a zone can still qualify, and a building inside one must still meet the law’s vacant-and-abandoned test.

Which buildings on this site sit in an Opportunity Zone

Each screened building is placed by its map point in the city's data and checked against HUD's layer of the 2018 Opportunity Zone designations.

Downtown San José

88 of the 99 buildings screened in Downtown San José sit in a 2018 Opportunity Zone tract, including 17 of the 18 that would pencil only with a RESIDE grant. Census tracts: 06085500800, 06085500901, 06085501000 and 06085501600. The one unlocked building outside a zone is 505 E Santa Clara St.

Greater Downtown Denver

None of the 310 buildings screened in Greater Downtown Denver sits in a 2018 Opportunity Zone tract.

Being in a zone is not the same as qualifying. Opportunity Zone status helps an application; it does not make a building eligible for RESIDE, and none of these buildings has been checked against the law’s vacant-and-abandoned test.

The Opportunity Zone map is changing

Opportunity Zones are now a permanent part of the tax code, redesignated every 10 years. Under IRS Notice 2026-40, the original 2018 designations run through December 31, 2028, and a new round of zones takes effect on January 1, 2027, running through December 31, 2036. Governors began nominating the new zones in 2026. The RESIDE pilot runs in fiscal years 2027 through 2031, so the zones that count for it may differ from the 2018 map used here. This page will be updated when the new designations are published.

Questions

What does the ROAD to Housing Act do for Opportunity Zones?

Section 201 lets HUD give additional weight, in any competitive grant for building, modifying, rehabilitating or preserving housing, to projects located in or substantially and directly benefiting a Qualified Opportunity Zone. It is optional: HUD may, not must, do it. The RESIDE Act (Section 210) also lists Opportunity Zones among the four priorities for its conversion grants.

Is Downtown San José in an Opportunity Zone?

88 of the 99 buildings screened in Downtown San José sit in a 2018 Opportunity Zone tract, including 17 of the 18 that would pencil only with a RESIDE grant. They fall in census tracts 06085500800, 06085500901, 06085501000 and 06085501600. This uses the 2018 designations; a new round of zones takes effect on January 1, 2027.

Is Greater Downtown Denver in an Opportunity Zone?

None of the 310 buildings screened in Greater Downtown Denver sits in a 2018 Opportunity Zone tract. This uses the 2018 designations; a new round of zones takes effect on January 1, 2027.

Do Opportunity Zones matter for RESIDE Act grants?

They are one of four priorities HUD must give weight to, alongside communities experiencing economic distress, needs in a jurisdiction's consolidated plan, and local ordinances that ease conversion. A priority is not a requirement: a building outside a zone can still qualify, and one inside must still meet the law's vacant-and-abandoned test.

Are Opportunity Zones changing?

Yes. Under IRS Notice 2026-40, the 2018 designations run through December 31, 2028, and a new round of zones takes effect on January 1, 2027, and runs through December 31, 2036, with new zones designated every 10 years. Governors began nominating the new zones in 2026.

Sources

  1. U.S. Government Publishing Office, “Public Law 119-101, Sections 201 and 210”
  2. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Opportunity Zones (2018 designations)”
  3. Faegre Drinker, “Transition Guidelines for New Qualified Opportunity Zones”
  4. National League of Cities, “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Provisions”

More on the law: The ROAD to Housing Act explained · Environmental review changes · CDBG and HOME changes