HLC Housing Agenda Blog

House Passes Bill That Includes Housing Trust Fund, Neighborhood

This just in from the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California:

The House of Representatives on July 23 overwhelmingly passed H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which would establish a permanent affordable housing trust fund. By a vote of 272 to 152, the House agreed to a wide-sweeping reform of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the creation of a new refinancing program within the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to help homeowners facing foreclosure, and a White House plan to keep the GSEs afloat. The Administration earlier issued a Statement of Administration Policy advocating for expeditious passage of the legislation.

The Housing Trust Fund provisions in the bill would target at least 75% of the funds to be used for rental housing to people with income below 30% of area median. All of the funds would have to benefit people with incomes below 50% of area median. Furthermore, the bill places a cap on using housing trust fund resources for homeownership at 10%. This will help ensure that the housing trust fund focuses on the very lowest income households, which have the greatest housing affordability problems.

The initial source of dedicated funding is the GSEs, but in the future other sources may be developed and will be needed to meet the goal of providing 1.5 million new affordable housing units.

The final legislation includes a section of provisions related to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) program. Specifically, the Housing Credit provisions included in the legislation would (not an exhaustive list):
* Allow a temporary $0.20 percent per capita increase in Housing Credit Authority for 2008 and 2009 with a 10 percent increase to the small state minimum.
* Exempt Housing Credit investments from the alternative minimum tax (AMT)
* Eliminate the Housing Credit recapture bond requirement and replace it with a reporting requirement
* Temporarily fix the annual Housing Credit percentage at 9 percent.
* Allow a 30 percent increase in eligible basis for properties determined by state allocating agencies as needing additional Housing Credits to achieve financial feasibility
* Provide clarification on the general public use requirement

In addition, the Neighborhood Stabilization Funding, which would provide $3.9 billion to communities to buy abandoned, foreclosed properties in order to get them reoccupied by homeowners and renters, was thankfully able to stay in the bill.

The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration as early as tomorrow, Thursday, July 24, where it is expected to pass.

Please thank the California delegation for their support on this issue. See their information below:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
or
450 Golden Gate Ave., 14th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
or
One Post Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94104

Senator Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
or
1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240
San Francisco, CA 94111