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NCSHA 2024 Priorities

Overview

States created their housing finance agencies (HFAs) to address their affordable homeownership and rental housing needs, especially the affordable housing challenges faced by underserved households and communities. The National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization created by the nation’s state HFAs to advance through advocacy and education their efforts to provide affordable housing to those who need it.

NCSHA’s priorities, adopted annually by its Board of Directors after consultation with all its HFA members, establish the primary areas of focus for NCSHA in its wide-ranging efforts to expand affordable housing opportunity and strengthen the state HFA role in delivering it.

NCSHA will, year in and year out, pursue on behalf of its HFA members the federal housing resources, policies, and flexibility necessary for them to respond fully to the broad spectrum of affordable housing needs they serve, including housing for families, persons with special needs, the elderly, people experiencing homelessness, and those at risk of homelessness; through homeownership and rental housing; with both new production and preservation; and in urban, suburban, and rural areas.

NCSHA is also committed, on a permanent basis, to pursuing these goals in a manner that promotes racial equity, intentionally addressing the affordable housing needs and concerns of people and communities of color.

Making progress on each annual priority requires action on various legislative, regulatory, and business issues. Under each priority are listed several priority actions for 2024.

NCSHA’s priorities for 2024 are to:

  • Expand the supply and preservation of affordable for-sale and rental homes for low- and moderate-income households;
  • Expand access, affordability, and financial sustainability in housing for households and communities of color and others disproportionately harmed by disasters, discrimination, and disinvestment; and
  • Strengthen the capacity of state HFAs to more efficiently and effectively serve as the center of the nation’s affordable housing finance system.

2024 Priorities and Priority Actions

Priority: Expand the supply and preservation of affordable for-sale and rental homes for low- and moderate-income households by:

  • Increasing the production and preservation of affordable rental apartments by expanding and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and tax-exempt Multifamily Housing Bonds through enactment of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act and other legislation.
  • Stimulating the development and rehabilitation of affordable for-sale housing with improvements to Mortgage Revenue Bonds and Mortgage Credit Certificates through the enactment of the Affordable Housing Bond Enhancement Act, and securing new sources of capital through the enactment of the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act.
  • Optimizing remaining funds in the Emergency Rental Assistance, Homeowner Assistance Fund, Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, and HOME-ARP programs through flexible, responsive federal regulations.
  • Improving the HOME Investment Partnerships program, through both legislative reauthorization and regulatory changes, the Housing Trust Fund, and multifamily financing risk-sharing through the Federal Housing Administration and Federal Financing Bank.
  • Maximizing opportunities for state HFAs to leverage recently authorized federal energy funding and incentives for affordable housing through outreach and new partnerships.

Priority: Expand access, affordability, and financial sustainability in housing for households and communities of color and others disproportionately harmed by disasters, discrimination, and disinvestment by:

  • Ensuring state HFAs, as the largest provider of down payment assistance for low-income and minority borrowers, are able to generate funding to provide the assistance through all existing and potential new sources and structures.
  • Improving accessibility to affordable mortgage loan finance for first-time buyers and underserved households, including communities of color, through HFA partnerships with the Federal Housing Administration, Federal Home Loan Banks, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
  • Expanding opportunities for people and communities who have been historically marginalized in the housing market through the Community Reinvestment Act and the Fair Housing Act and by innovating in research, policy design, program implementation, and strategic partnerships.
  • Supporting sustainable and equitable recovery from disasters through improvements to the CDBG-DR program and other policies.

Priority: Strengthen the capacity of state HFAs to more efficiently and effectively serve as the center of the nation’s affordable housing finance system by:

  • Making housing programs more efficient and effective and able to serve more who need assistance by reducing unnecessary and burdensome regulations in federal affordable housing policies and programs and encouraging state and local regulatory reform.
  • Ensuring continued state-by-state (plus DC, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands-specific) administration of HUD project-based rental assistance (PBRA) by state HFAs with the willingness and authorization under state law to deliver PBRA services.
  • Supporting state HFA business development and innovation that enable the agencies to serve more households more efficiently and effectively through new lending executions, wider capital options, and deeper relationships with the housing government-sponsored enterprises, mortgage bankers, non-bank lenders, and private mortgage insurance companies.
  • Expanding state HFA opportunities to achieve their affordable housing missions by building partnerships with national organizations and industry leaders in other sectors, including health care, education, disaster response and recovery, energy efficiency, and economic development.
  • Implementing NCSHA’s Recommended Practices in Housing Credit Administration as revised in 2023 to ensure HFA Housing Credit program administration remains fully responsive to current affordable housing challenges, and continuing analysis of potential practices in implementing the program’s statutory average income test minimum set-aside and nonprofit right of first refusal.