Congress

The full House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) will hold two upcoming housing related hearings. The April 30 hearing will focus on “Housing in America: Assessing the Infrastructure Needs of America’s Housing Stock.” The May 21 hearing will focus on “Housing in America: Oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

This New York Times article by Emily Badger dives into the 2020 presidential candidates’ positions on affordable rental housing. From the article, “I hope [affordable housing] becomes an obvious part of the package…how can you run for President without speaking to this?”

On April 4, 2019 the Senate voted 52-44 to confirm Mark Calabria as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) passed the Ending Homelessness Act (H.R. 1856) with a 32-26 vote. The legislation provides $13.27 billion in new funding over five years to federal programs and initiatives to prevent homelessness. It includes funding for new units of affordable housing, new vouchers, case management and technical assistance.

The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign released the results of a national public opinion poll showing that the vast majority of the public (85 percent) believes that ensuring everyone has a safe, decent and affordable place to live should be a “top national priority.”

On March 26 and 27 the full Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held hearing on Chairman Mike Crapo’s (R-ID) Housing Finance Reform Outline. At the March 26 hearing Chairman Crapo said he wants to “bring to a close the conservatorship era.” Former Acting FHFA Director Edward DeMarco stated that “the outline captures the consensus elements of prior reform proposals and serves as a solid workable foundation from which to develop legislation.” At the March 27 hearing Chairman Crapo said he “considers Housing Finance Reform to be a top priority for the Banking Committee this Congress” and that “the status quo is simply not a valid viable option.”

The House Financial Services Committee will hold several upcoming hearings related to housing. Witnesses for the committee hearings are required to be published three days prior to event, excluding holidays and weekends. All hearings and markups will take place in 2128 Rayburn House Office Building and will be broadcast live.

President Trump signed a memorandum that directs HUD and Treasury to draft administrative and legislative options for housing finance reform to be submitted to the President for approval as soon as practicable. HUD will prepare a reform plan for the housing finance agencies it oversees, and Treasury will prepare a reform plan for Fannie Mae […]

Six Senators sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig requesting he issue a notice clarifying that affordable housing projects for veterans that comply with the LIHTC General Public Use criteria are also eligible for Private Activity Bonds (PABs). Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Kamala Harris (D-CA) Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) argue that, “given that LIHTCs and PABs are designed to be used in tandem, the General Public Use criteria explicitly laid out in the LIHTC statue should apply to PABs as well.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and 17 other Members of Congress reintroduced the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act. The bill would invest about $475 billion in federal programs over a 10-year period to preserve or create more than 3 million housing units for low- and middle-income families. An independent analysis from Moody’s Analytics estimates that the investment would bring down rents by 10 percent and create 1.5 million new jobs. The bill would also change existing laws that protect discriminatory housing practices and lead to segregation.

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Extension Act of 2019 was introduced in both the Senate (S.750) and House (H.R. 1680). The bill would permanently extend the NMTC and provide an annual inflation adjustment.

President Trump released his proposed FY 2020 ‘skinny’ budget, “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First.” Overall, the budget proposes to cut HUD by $9.6 billion or 18% below 2019 enacted levels. These cuts are similar in magnitude to the proposed cuts in the President’s FY-2019 budget request.