Congress

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate conferees have agreed to a $446.8 billion omnibus appropriations bill (HR 3288). This “˜omnibus’ legislation includes the Transportation-HUD appropriations measure as well as the Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Labor-Health and Human Services, Milcon-VA, and State-Foreign Operations bills.

Last night (November 18), Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) introduced legislation that would increase the carryback period for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). Representative Pascrell is a member of the majority party in the House and sits on the House Ways & Means Committee. The measure would implement the following changes…

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) recently introduced legislation to help provide more affordable housing options for military service members and their families.

Did you miss the NH&RA Fall Developers Forum? For a limited time only we are making available for purchase select conference recordings and materials including…

On behalf of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the accounting firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) has conducted a major survey entitled “Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Investment Survey” to provide an understanding of the current market environment for the LIHTC as well as investor motivations and investor responses to potential legislative enhancements to the LIHTC Program.

National Council of Affordable Housing Market Analysts (NCAHMA) has made available the PowerPoint slides presented during its recent 2009 Affordable Housing Underwriting Forum & Annual Meeting, held November 9-10, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel Magnificent Mile in Chicago, IL.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan recently called on Congress to approve three proposed measures to improve housing markets and provide better housing options for Americans.

CEFAH has been working with Representative Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) and are pleased to report that she is well along in drafting “CEFAH legislation”. The draft legislation addresses a good portion of our legislative agenda (as laid out in our white paper from earlier this year)

NH&RA’s Historic Preservation Development Council is working to extend expiring Tax Incentives for historic rehabilitation projects in the Gulf Opportunity Zone in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. These benefits are currently due to expire at the end of 2009. As a result of our efforts we expect legislation to be introduced shortly that will be co-sponsored by Congressman Artur Davis (D-Ala.) and Congressman Charles Boustany (R-La.).

U.S. lawmakers from the House and Senate have agreed on a compromise version of H.R. 2997, which provides funding levels for rural housing programs through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for fiscal year 2010.

National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) has sent a letter to Congressional Leaders seeking provisions to strengthen the Housing Bond and Credit programs.

Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), along with Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Pat Tiberi (R-OH) have introduced legislation that would make a number of legislative changes to the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit.