May 26, 2010
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On May 25, MassHousing Executive Director and NCSHA Board Member Tom Gleason testified at a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee on HUD’s Transforming Rental Assistance (TRA) proposal.  HUD’s TRA proposal is a multi-year, $350 million proposal to preserve HUD-funded public and assisted housing and put the nation’s inventory of deeply affordable rental housing on a sustainable financial footing, enhance housing choice for residents and increase the share of HUD-assisted households living in lower-poverty communities, and streamline the administration of HUD's rental assistance programs.
 
In NCSHA’s written statement, Gleason says, “NCSHA supports HUD’s goals for TRA, including the preservation of public and assisted housing, more uniform policies and increased administrative efficiency across all HUD-funded rental assistance programs, and enhanced housing choice for assistance recipients.”
 
NCSHA’s testimony explained that NCSHA is continuing to analyze the TRA proposal and to seek HFA reaction to it, but raises the following preliminary concerns and questions:
 
  •  NCSHA believes it is important for Congress and the Administration to recognize the property recapitalization demands the TRA initiative will place on the Housing Credit and other federal housing resources, which are already oversubscribed. 
  •  It is essential that TRA permits property rents adequate to support recapitalization strategies and to provide for long-term property viability. 
  • NCSHA strongly supports the goal of resident mobility, but urges Congress to find a way to achieve mobility without reducing the resources available to help additional families in need of housing assistance, as TRA proposes. 
  • NCSHA believes that TRA should remain a limited, voluntary program until Congress can review its outcomes. 
  • HUD needs to be more specific about the role and selection of TRA contract administrators and their relationship to administrators of HUD’s Performance-Based Contract Administration (PBCA) program. 
  • Congress should create a state-administered pool of project- and tenant-based rental assistance for HFAs to coordinate with the capital resources they administer to help meet the needs of very low-income households.
 
Gleason complimented HUD’s approach relying on project-based assistance, stating, “We are pleased this latest TRA proposal provides project-based Section 8 for most developments that undergo conversion.  Years of experience have shown that project-based Section 8 is the best tool for ensuring long-term affordability and attracting private capital.”
 
Gleason also stated, “NCSHA strongly supports mobility as a means for creating opportunity for residents to improve their quality of life.  However, it must be achieved without reducing the resources available to help other families.”
 
Gleason also pointed out that, “The property recapitalization demands that the TRA initiative will place on the Housing Credit and other federal housing resources have not been adequately assessed.  These programs are already oversubscribed in many states and the TRA initiative will only cause further strain on these limited resources.”  Gleason asked the Financial Services Committee members to, “work with the leadership of the Ways and Means Committee to ensure that additional Credit is provided to states to meet this increased demand.  Otherwise, states will have to make difficult choices between preserving TRA developments, producing new rental housing, or preserving existing privately-financed affordable housing developments.”