NCSHA Blog

According to the White House fact sheet on President Obama’s Plan to Help Responsible Homeowners and Heal the Housing Market, released today, the Administration’s FY 2013 Budget will propose $1 billion for the Housing Trust Fund and $15 billion for Project Rebuild. The Budget is set to be released on February 13.

Today, the White House released details of the mortgage refinancing plan first announced by President Obama in his January 24 State of the Union Address. As part of the plan, the Administration will ask Congress to pass legislation allowing borrowers current on their existing loan payments, including underwater homeowners, to refinance into low-interest, Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans.

At its first full hearing of this year, Senate Finance Committee members emphasized the need to provide more certainty in the tax code by dealing with expiring provisions on a timely basis. NCSHA is advocating for extension of the 9 percent minimum Housing Credit rate as part of this year's tax extenders legislation to eliminate uncertainty for future projects and any potential negative impact on projects underwritten at lower Credit rates.

One of the first items Congress intends to accomplish in 2012 is extending the payroll tax holiday and forging agreement on a number of other expiring tax provisions. NCSHA and other industry stakeholders continue to advocate for an extension of the 9 percent minimum Housing Credit rate as part of tax extenders legislation. Beyond extending individual tax provisions, in the months ahead, the tax-writing committees are expected to continue holding hearings on comprehensive tax reform.

The Irene and Lee Tax Relief Storm Recovery Act was introduced earlier this month to increase the Housing Credit ceiling for states impacted by Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Lee, namely, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

On January 30, the Bond Buyer reported that White House officials have said the Administration is not planning to repeat its proposal to cap the value of municipal bond interest for wealthy taxpayers. The Administration included a proposal to limit the exemption to 28 percent for high-income taxpayers in the jobs and deficit reduction bills it released last year.

Since President Obama proposed in his January 24 State of the Union address a plan to allow all homeowners the opportunity to refinance their mortgages, some additional information about the plan has emerged, despite the fact that the Administration has not formally released additional details.

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.