NCSHA Submits Housing Trust Fund Comments

On December 28, NCSHA submitted to HUD comments on the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Proposed Rule.  NCSHA reiterated its excitement about this new affordable housing production tool and urged HUD to maintain the flexibility of the HTF provided for by the authorizing legislation, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.

 

In its comments, NCSHA discusses state housing finance agencies’ (HFAs) efforts to serve extremely low-income (ELI) and very low-income (VLI) families and explains that even with access to additional funds via the HTF, HFAs will continue to be challenged to bridge the gap between the cost of developing, operating, and maintaining housing dedicated to serving these families.  NCSHA urged HUD to provide HFAs the latitude required to use multiple federal and other resources to achieve deep income targeting and maximize the HTF’s effect.

 

NCSHA requested that HUD not impose requirements above and beyond those required by statute in a number of areas, including: targeting to ELI families, operating assistance, and the affordability period.  NCSHA also encouraged HUD to waive any requirement under the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher program that will complicate the use of those vouchers with the HTF.

 

Additionally, NCSHA urged HUD to provide more flexibility in the areas of repayment, resale, energy-efficiency, and cross-cutting federal regulations. 

 

HUD has not released a timeline for publishing the HTF Final Rule.  To date, no funding for the HTF has been provided; information on legislative efforts to capitalize the HTF can be found on NCSHA’s HTF webpage.  NCSHA continues to advocate for a dedicated funding source for the HTF.