NEW YORK, March 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — America’s permitting system is driving billions in hidden costs and slowing critical housing, infrastructure, and economic development projects, according to a new report from Labrynth, an AI-native regulatory intelligence company. The report reveals the real cost of red tape isn’t just time; it’s suppressed development, delayed investment, and limited growth. Select cities are making real progress, like Taunton, Massachusetts and Fort Worth, Texas, cutting processing times and unlocking faster pathways to build.
The March 2026 Red Tape Report (Issue 2), powered by the Red Tape Index, uncovers a widening divide between high-performing cities that treat permitting as a strategic growth function and those still operating on legacy workflows masked by surface-level digitization. With a national housing shortage of 3.7 million units and growing infrastructure demand, the report also shows how fixing permitting is one of the highest-leverage interventions available to policymakers and operators alike.
Among the report’s most striking findings:
- A 600x speed gap between the fastest and slowest cities: Charlotte, NC processes permits in 5–7 days, while San Francisco, CA can take up to 33 months
- $31 billion annually lost to “rework,” driven by incomplete or non-compliant applications
- Up to 45 minutes wasted per incomplete application, compounding into weeks of lost staff capacity across departments
- “Digital in name only” systems, where 74% of agencies prioritize faster processing, yet only 16% believe their tools actually deliver results
- Regulatory friction now drives up to 23.8% of home prices, 40.6% of multifamily costs, and as much as $2.4 trillion in lost global economic output
“When permitting breaks, growth breaks. On the flip side, when AI-enabled efficiency becomes the standard, American cities are seeing real results,” said Stuart Lacey, Founder and CEO of Labrynth and Director at Red Tape Index. “Delays and incomplete permitting applications don’t just slow projects, they ripple across the economy, driving up costs and holding back development at scale.”
Cities like Fort Worth, TX and Taunton, MA show what’s possible when permitting is treated as a performance lever:
- In Fort Worth (#1 in the Red Tape Index), approvals are completed in as little as 6–10 days, avoiding delays that stretch 30+ months elsewhere
- In Taunton (#10 in the Red Tape Index), clearer standards and pre-application guidance reduce rework, where incomplete applications can consume ~45 minutes each and drive $31B in annual losses
- Outcome: faster approvals, higher first-time success rates, and scalable permitting without bottlenecks
Other jurisdictions are seeing similar gains. Memphis and Shelby County have reduced commercial review times by 87 percent, while jurisdictions across Arizona have shortened approval timelines by 37 percent. These outcomes don’t come from replacing human expertise, but from augmenting it, enabling staff to focus on high-value review while eliminating repetitive rework and inefficiencies.
“In Taunton, we believe that efficient government is the foundation of a thriving community,” said Shaunna O’Connell, Mayor of the City of Taunton. “Our work to modernize permitting isn’t just about speed, it’s about respect for the people who are investing in and building our city.”
To download the report, please visit https://redtapeindex.com/report.
About The Red Tape Index
The Red Tape Index (RTI) is the most comprehensive permitting performance database in the U.S., tracking more than 500 cities and all 50 states. It combines public records, regulatory data, and AI-powered analysis to measure permitting speed, transparency, and scalability. The full Red Tape Report, including additional city-level case studies and regulatory readiness benchmarks, is available at https://redtapeindex.com/report.
About Labrynth
Labrynth is the first transparent AI company purpose-built to solve regulatory bottlenecks at scale. Its outcome-based models compress permitting timelines, reduce compliance risks and unlock faster revenue for industries and local governments. Spun out from AI and agentic innovation powerhouse Invisible Technologies and backed by AI HoldCo platform Infinity Constellation, Labrynth blends cutting-edge AI with human expertise to build a smarter, faster, and fairer regulatory system. Learn more at www.labrynth.ai.
Media Contact:
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/220cb1b7-353c-4fef-9a0d-87d79920e0ae
