Congress

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs voted 17-7 to approve Representative Marcia Fudge’s (D-OH) nomination to be HUD Secretary. Six Republicans broke party lines to approve her nomination: Senators Kevin Cramer (ND), John Kennedy (LA), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Jerry Moran (KS), Mike Rounds (SD) and Tim Scott (SC).

On December 27, the president signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, making the four percent LIHTC rate permanently fixed and providing $25 billion of rental assistance. Our detailed summary of the bill is available.

On Monday, December 21, Congress passed a sweeping $1.4 trillion package to fund the government through September 30, 2021 plus $900 billion in Coronavirus aid. Many, many thanks to our members and partners who kept up the drumbeat all year long to get important housing priorities included in the bill.

The $748 billion aid package is widely seen as the one that will advance; it contains $25 billion in rental assistance and extends the CDC eviction moratorium through January 31, 2020. Any one individual household is eligible to receive up to 18 months of assistance for arrearages and future rent payments. Importantly, landlords and owners may apply on behalf of tenants. Thank you to the many NH&RA members that contributed to the development of the NH&RA’s COVID-19 housing assistance advocacy letter, several of the asks in that letter are included in the legislative text!

NH&RA joined with 39 other national organizations in a letter to Congressional appropriations organized by the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), which urges Congress to adopt full and robust fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations for housing and community development programs as soon as possible.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report on Opportunity Zones (OZ’s), which calls on Congress to consider providing Treasury with authority and responsibility to collect data and report on OZ’s performance.

The Senate returned this week and hit the ground running with Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 appropriations. Funding for the federal government runs out on December 11 and both Republicans and Democrats have stated their desire for full FY 2021 appropriation, as opposed to another short-term or long-term continuing resolution. A COVID-19 relief package and a tax bill are widely seen as the other must-dos during the lame-duck session. All three legislative vehicles provide opportunities to attach LIHTC priorities. We’ll continue to monitor the latest developments and engage our members when action is needed.

On Monday, the Senate voted down a motion to consider the House-passed resolution of disapproval (H.J. Res. 90) to nullify the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s new rule on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The Federal Reserve’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking was officially published in the Federal Register. Comments are due by February 16, 2021; NH&RA will submit comments and encourages our members to do so as well.

Representative Katherine Clark (D-MA) introduced the Support Allowing Volume Exception for (SAVE) Federally-Assisted Housing Act, a targeted effort to address the national shortage of affordable housing units by freeing up the availability of private activity bonds used to support the preservation, improvement or replacement of federally-assisted housing facilities.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Housing and Infrastructure Project released federal policy recommendations designed to dramatically reduce the number of working families with destabilizing rent burdens and at risk of eviction, minimize the number of people experiencing homelessness, and prevent further spread of COVID-19.

On September 29, House Democrats released a scaled down COVID-19 relief proposal, calling it an updated Heroes Act, with a price tag of $2.2 trillion. The bill is nearly $1 trillion less than the earlier version and includes new relief for the airline, restaurant and other hardest-hit industries, as well as additional funds to support education and childcare. Despite the lower price tag, negotiations between the House, White House and Senate are not progressing, and it seems unlikely that they will reach agreement to enact further large-scale relief before the election.

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will lie in repose at the Supreme Court today and tomorrow and lie in state in the Capitol on Friday, the first woman to ever receive the honor. The passing of Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) Justice Ginsburg dramatically changes the legislative outlook for the remainder of 2020.