Congress

Conference materials are now available for the 2013 NCHMA Multifamily Housing Exchange and NH&RA’s New Markets Tax Credit Symposium, which took place in Washington, DC April 2-4.

NH&RA was thrilled to welcome over 250 participants to the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in South Beach for our 2013 Annual Meeting. All conference materials, Power Point presentations, relevant articles, reports, memos, etc. are available below under the relevant session titles.

The U.S. Senate on March 20 passed by a vote of 73 to 26 an amended version of the U.S. House of Representatives FY 2013 continuing resolution (CR), H.R. 933. The legislation provides funding for all federally funded agencies for the remainder of FY 2013, which ends on September 30, 2013.

U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) recently re-introduced the Common Sense Housing Investment Act of 2013 (H.R. 1213) which would replace the federal mortgage interest deduction (MID) with a 15 percent non-refundable tax credit for all mortgages up to $500,000. Legislators expect that phasing out the MID would increase federal revenue by $196 billion over ten years.

U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently introduced legislation that would make permanent the enhanced tax incentives for conservation easements (including historic buildings) that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2013.

After months of stalemate on December 31 (US Senate) and January 1 (US House of Representatives) respectively, has passed HR 8, The American Taxpayer Relief Act, which addresses the tax provisions of the “fiscal cliff.” The legislation is expected to be signed into law by President Obama imminently. The legislation includes a number of tax extenders including extensions of most of the expiring “Bush-era” income tax rates, a permanent “patch” for the alternative minimum tax, and most notably for NH&RA members extensions of the New Markets Tax Credit and the fixed 9 percent rate for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit through 2013. The measure also postpones sequestration, automatic spending cuts to government spending that was set to occur in January, by two months to allow time for further negotiation.

NH&RA member firm, Nixon Peabody recent released an article detailing the potential threats of the looming sequestration cuts.

The Affordable Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. (A Call to Invest in Our Neighborhoods) network has released a series of District Fact Sheets and Key Member Fact Sheets detailing the success of the program in every Congressional district.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) recently re-introduced the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act of 2013 (S. 437), which would fully authorize the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) program and allocate $350 million in FY 2013.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released a letter to Congressional leaders which detailed the calculations of the amounts and percentages by which various budgetary resources are required to be reduced due to sequestration, or the automatic $85 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts in fiscal year (FY) 2013

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) recently announced the formation of eleven Tax Reform Working Groups. Each of the groups will review current law in its designated issue area and then identify, research and compile feedback related to the topic of the working group.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission recently released its report recommending improvements to America’s federal housing programs. The recommendations propose scaling back the government role in the housing finance system and reforming housing assistance programs to better meet the needs of the most vulnerable households.