Congress

On June 4, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2019 (S. 1703) while Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Don Beyer (D-VA), Kenny Marchant (R-TX) and Jacky Walorski (R-IN) introduced companion legislation H.R. 3077 in the US House of Representatives. The ACTION Campaign is submitting a letter to Congress demonstrating the strong support for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act. The deadline to sign-on to the letter is Tuesday, June 11.

On June 4, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2020 Transportation-HUD appropriations bills on a partisan 29-21 vote. The bill provides $50.1 billion for HUD programs, $5.9 billion of the FY 2019 enacted funding level.

Chairman David Perdue (R-GA) and Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-NJ) of the Senate Banking subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee introduced S.1463, a bill to establish a scorekeeping rule to ensure that increases in guarantee fees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shall not be used to offset provisions that increase the deficit.

HUD announced $5 million will be made available this summer for the purchase and installation of carbon monoxide (CO) detectors in public housing units where they are necessary. HUD also announced it has been working with Congressional leaders on the Senate Banking Committee on legislation that will require CO detectors in HUD-assisted housing units that need them.

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will markup the FY 2020 T-HUD appropriations bill at 8:30 am EDT on May 23.

Last week Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), along with Reps. Darrin LaHood (R-IL), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Michael Turner (R-OH) and Brian Higgins (D-NY), introduced the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity (HTC-GO) Act, H.R. 2825. 

This American Banker article explores the remarks from President Trump at the recent National Association of Realtors event. “This is a pretty urgent problem.  We’re doing well with it now… We have many geniuses looking at it and we’ll figure something out.”

At the Mortgage Bankers Association conference, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Dr. Mark Calabria said “ while I’m committed to working with Congress, I’m not going to wait on Congress.”

The House Appropriations Committee recently approved FY 2020 allocations for its 12 subcommittees, known as 302(b)s. The allocations total $1.295 trillion in discretionary funding and were approved on a 30-22 vote.

On May 21 at 10 am, the full House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) will hold a hearing, titled “Housing in America: Oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

The ACTION Campaign released updated national and state factsheets that show the impact of the LIHTC in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In addition to the regular information on homes developed or preserved, jobs supported and the need for affordable housing, this year’s factsheets also include estimates on how many homes could be built with a 50 percent LIHTC increase.

Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced S. 1344 which would require the Secretary of the Treasury to collect data and issue a report on the Opportunity Zone (OZ) tax incentives.

On April 30 the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) held a hearing on Housing in America: Assessing the Infrastructure Needs of America’s Housing Stock. The hearing featured discussion on Chairwoman Maxine Water’s (D-CA) draft bill, Housing Is Infrastructure Act of 2019, and testimony from: