Congress

The bill would provide $172 billion to retrofit existing housing through the creation of two new grant programs to achieve carbon neutrality in public housing through workforce development and construction.

The bill retains most of the provisions from the version that was introduced in the 116th Congress, with two notable exceptions in the bond arena. The minimum four percent rate floor has been removed since it was passed into law in the 2020 year-end bill. The new version of the bill lowers the 50 percent bond-financing threshold to 25 percent.

Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Rob Portman (D-OH), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Todd Young (R-IN) along with Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) introduced the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021 (AHCIA).

Last week, President Joe Biden sent the administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2022 discretionary funding request to Congress. The HUD budget requests $68.7 billion, a $9 billion or 15-percent increase from the 2021 enacted level. The funding request does not include line-by-line program requests, but rather requests for a few key HUD programs. A full budget request is expected later this spring.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Housing Supply and Affordability Act to create a new $300 million per year grant program to help localities develop and implement comprehensive housing policy plans.

Rep.  Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the following housing-related hearings in the month of April. All the hearings will be livestreamed here.

This morning the White House released a fact sheet on the American Jobs Plan, a $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal with several investments in housing. President Joe Biden (D) is expected to give a speech in Pittsburg today at 4:20 p.m. ET to officially unveil the plan. Proposed pay-fors include an increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent and a “global minimum tax” on U.S. corporations.

NH&RA joined the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding’s (CHCDF) letter to Congressional appropriators urging the highest possible funding amount for Fiscal Year 2022 funding for HUD appropriations. NH&RA encourages our members to also join the letter by the April 9 deadline.  

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!