Congress

All conference materials, PowerPoint presentations, relevant articles, reports, memos, etc. from the 2013 Fall Forum are available below under the relevant session titles. Click below to learn more about the topics that were covered at the meeting!

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, October 28 passed a number of veteran’s affairs bills, including the Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2013 (HR 1742) which would broaden disabled veterans’ income eligibility for federal rental assistance and public housing programs.

Despite the extreme division and political controversy that came along with the recent federal government shutdown and debt ceiling debate, Congress was able to pass the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2014 (HR 2775) which would provide appropriations to government agencies for three months. Section 148 of the measure extends the second component of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program through January 15, 2014.

All conference materials, PowerPoint presentations, relevant articles, reports, memos, etc. from the 2013 NCHMA Annual Meeting are available for download.

The United States Congress has not been able to pass a bill to fund the government beyond September 30, 2013, resulting in a government shutdown. On September 27, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a “Contingency Plan for Possible Lapse in Appropriations” if Congress failed to pass the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. It is unclear how long the shutdown will last or its full affects it will have on housing, but here are some of the major affects the shutdown will have on HUD and other federal housing programs.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Appropriations Committees have both approved the T-HUD Subcommittee versions of the fiscal year (FY) 2014 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) and FY 2014 Agriculture and Rural Development funding bills.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently distributed a “Dear Colleague” letter outlining a “blank slate” approach to tax reform. This method approaches tax reform with the assumption that all special provisions will be eliminated unless there is clear evidence they should be kept in the code.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and a group of bipartisan Senators together re-introduced S. 1442, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the minimum low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) rate for unsubsidized buildings and provide a minimum 4 percent credit rate for existing buildings.

The U.S. House of Representatives House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee recently held a hearing about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse at HUD.

House Finance Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) recently announced intentions to introduce the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners (PATH ) Act, a measure which according to Hensarling, would create a more sustainable housing finance system.

On Tuesday, August 6, President Obama delivered a speech in Phoenix, Arizona detailing his plan for promoting a strong and stable housing market. The speech addressed several core principles but mainly focused on balancing housing policy to support both sustainable homeownership options and affordable rental opportunities.

Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Mike Crapo (R-ID), the Committee’s Ranking Member, released a discussion draft of the Federal Housing Administration Solvency Act of 2013, which would implement several reforms designed to improve the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and to ensure the solvency of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.