Congress

It’s been a busy week for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). During the American Credit Union Mortgage Association’s Annual Conference, Director Mark Calabria shared his concerns about volume-based pricing discounts on Guarantee Fees (G-Fees). FHFA issued a confidential administrative directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac restricting competition on G-Fees

FHFA sent a letter to the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) instructing them that, as of December 31, 2019, they should stop purchasing investments in assets tied to London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) with a contractual maturity beyond December 31, 2021.

FHFA announced modified Preferred Stock Purchase agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that allow the GSEs to retain capitals of up to $25 billion and $20 billion, respectively. The move ends the capital sweep on earnings above $3 billion that was put into place in 2008 when the GSEs entered conservatorship.

Finally, FHFA announced an agreement with Simone Grimes who accused former director Melvin Watt of sexual harassment.

Last week the Senate passed, and President Trump signed into law, a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through November 21, 2019, averting a government shutdown as Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 comes to a close. The Senate passed the measure (H.R. 4378) with a 81-16 vote.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) released a draft housing bill, A Just Society: A Place to Prosper Act of 2019. The bill calls for national rent control, right to counsel in tenant eviction proceedings, amending the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to bar source-of-income discrimination, withholding highway funds for jurisdictions not supporting equitable growth and eliminating the ability of states and Public Housing Authorities to add work requirements to housing assistance.

Last week the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through November 21, 2019, averting a government shutdown as Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 comes to a close. The measure (H.R. 4378) passed the House with a veto-proof majority vote of 301-123. The Senate is expected to pass the measure and the President is expected to sign the bill before the end of the fiscal year.

HUD published the FY 2020 Fair Market Rents (FMRs) here. The FY 2020 FMRs will be effective October 1, 2019, unless there is a request for reevaluation by September 30, 2019. The Federal Register notice contains the procedures for such reevaluation requests. These FMRs are used in the Housing Choice Voucher, the Moderate Rehabilitation Single […]

The Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding will hold a webinar on FY 2020 Funding Outlook for Affordable Housing Programs on September 26 at 4:00 pm EDT. Doug Rice from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Moha Thakur from the National Housing Trust, Steve Berg from the National Alliance to End Homelessness and […]

Yesterday the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (T-HUD) favorably reported its FY 2020 funding bill to the full committee. The full Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the bill at 10:30 am EDT on September 19 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 106 and via webcast.

As of publication, the T-HUD bill has yet to be released. Overall the subcommittee received a 302(b) allocation of $74.3 billion, $3.2 billion above the FY 2019 enacted levels. HUD received $56.0 billion in total budgetary resources, which is offset by $7.4 billion in receipts from the Federal Housing Agency/Ginnie Mae for a net funding level of $48.6 billion, an increase of $2.3 billion above the FY 2019 enacted level.

The House has passed a set of housing-related bills, advancing these measures to the Senate. The Strategy and Investment in Rural Housing Preservation Act of 2019 (H.R. 3620) would permanently authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Multifamily Housing Preservation and Revitalization program, and would authorize $1 billion to carry out the program. The Safe Housing for Families Act of 2019 (H.R. 1690) would authorize over $300 million over three years to fund the installation and maintenance of carbon monoxide detectors in HUD’s public housing units.

Finally, the Homebuyer Assistance Act of 2019 (H.R. 2852) would make it easier for homebuyers to buy a home with a Federal Housing Administration mortgage by alleviating the current shortage of certified appraisers.

HUD released a proposed rule that would revise HUD regulations by implementing sections 102, 103 and 104 of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA S. 3083/H.R. 3700 of the 114th Congress). These sections make sweeping changes to the United States Housing Act of 1937, particularly those affecting income calculation and reviews. Comments are due by November 18.

Last week the Department of the Treasury and HUD sent their Housing Finance Reform Plans to President Trump following his March Memorandum, which ordered the reports. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing on Housing Finance Reform: Next Steps with HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and FHFA Director Mark Calabria as witnesses.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) has released a housing report, “Locked Out: Reversing Federal Housing Failures and Unlocking Opportunity.” The report offers strategies the federal government could pursue to meaningfully address the nation’s housing affordability challenges – including expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, making HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers an entitlement program to […]

As Congress returns from its August recess, lawmakers must act to secure funding for fiscal year (FY) 2020 ahead of the September 30 deadline. The White House released a list of requested anomalies, or changes to the current funding levels and legislative language, if lawmakers rely on a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government past Sept. 30. HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly secured a coveted spot on that list.