Congress

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced that Shelley Poticha has been appointed Senior Advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities. HUD is working with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) on legislation that seeks to create the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities at HUD. Poticha will direct the office if the bill becomes law.

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee convened on July 8 to markup proposed legislation, H.R. 3045, to reform the housing choice voucher program under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937.

Leaders of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures and the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology held a joint hearing yesterday to receive testimony from key government officials and industry leaders with regards to a recent report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which states that minority-based Community Development Entities (CDE) are less likely to be successful in obtaining funding allocations under the New Markets Tax Credit Program.

On Wednesday, July 15 the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services held a hearing to discuss legislative options for preserving federally- and state-assisted affordable housing and preventing displacement of low-income, elderly and disabled tenants. During the hearing, Committee heard testimony from a panel of witnesses.

The US House of Representatives passed the USDA Funding (HR 2997) on July 9 while the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its own version of the legislation (S. 1406) on July 7. This measure includes funding for the USDA Rural Development Program.

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee convened today to markup proposed legislation, H.R. 3045, to reform the housing choice voucher program under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937.

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee yesterday (July 6) passed H.R. 2997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Funding Bill, which appropriates funds to the nation’s rural housing programs.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced legislation (HR 3068) that would that would send $2.5 billion in TARP dividends to housing programs created by the last Congress and dedicate $4 billion of what remains from the original $700 billion in TARP funding to other efforts to help struggling homeowners.

Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) has proposed legislation that would make $230 million in funding immediately available to begin work on shovel-ready affordable housing developments in flood-ravaged areas of Indiana. The legislation would clarifiy that disaster housing credits in Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Wisconsin would be eligible for the Tax Credit Exchange Program.

The House of Representatives recently passed by a 417-2 vote the Homes for Heroes Act of 2009 (H.R. 403), which makes housing rental vouchers available to all homeless veterans and includes veterans in public housing planning programs.

House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) has that the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures will hold a hearing on issues involving tax-exempt and taxable governmental bonds on May 21.

NH&RA will continue to update the ARRA resource page below as information is made available.