Preservation - Blog Post

On April 26, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported, by a vote of 28 to 1, its FY 2013 Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations bill, S. 2375. The bill would provide $900 million for the Section 502 single-family subsidized direct loan program and would provide $24 billion for the Section 502 unsubsidized guaranteed loan program.

It’s a pleasure to join so many representatives from our nation’s Housing Finance Agencies. Whether it’s providing affordable mortgages to low- and moderate-income families or expanding access to affordable rental housing, HFAs have always been a critical partner.

On the second day of NCSHA's 2012 Legislative Conference, Housing Finance Agency (HFA) staff and other affordable housing advocates continued their efforts to tell Congress to stand strong for housing. In the morning, attendees received a Washington update from political prognosticator Charlie Cook, learned the latest tax, banking, and spending news from key congressional staff, and heard insights on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from Acting Director Edward DeMarco of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

On April 23, NCSHA's 2012 Legislative Conference kicked off with addresses from Idaho Housing and Finance Association President and Executive Director and NCSHA President Gerald Hunter, NCSHA Executive Director Barbara Thompson, the Department of Treasury's Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Mary Miller, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission Co-Chair Former Senator Christopher Bond, and a panel of housing industry experts.

Today, HUD issued a new Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program Notice, providing clarification on components of the demonstration and extending the comment period. HUD will now accept public comments through April 23.

On March 8, HUD posted a notice of Web Availability and Request for Comments on its Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). Since then, HUD has held several webcasts to discuss aspects of HUD’s RAD program.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity recently circulated new draft legislation to reform the Section 8 program, the Affordable Housing and Self-Sufficiency Improvement Act of 2012 (AHSSIA). The legislation is the latest version of the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) and the Section 8 Savings Act (SESA). The Subcommittee expects to markup the legislation, which has not yet been formally introduced and thus has not been assigned a bill number, in mid-February.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity held a hearing October 13 entitled “The Section 8 Savings Act of 2011 (SESA): Proposals to Promote Economic Independence for Assisted Families.” Although the Subcommittee released a new draft of SESA at the beginning of October, the hearing focused almost exclusively on the Moving-to-Work (MTW) demonstration program.