File: 
NCSHA HOME Letter_Final.pdf

Summary

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    National Council of State Housing Agencies

    The Honorable Judy Biggert
    Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity

    The Honorable Luis V. Gutierrez
    Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity

    The Honorable Randy Neugebauer
    Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

    The Honorable Michael E. Capuano
    Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

    Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:
    On behalf of the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), and the state Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) it represents, I urge you to support the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program. HOME is one of the federal government’s most effective tools used in helping state efforts to produce desperately needed affordable housing for low‐income families. HOME’sflexibility allows states to decide how best to use the scarce HOME funds to meet their most urgent affordable housing needs, while appropriate federal rules and oversight help guide state and local efforts to minimize fraud, waste, and abuse.

    NCSHA is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing the state HFAs. The HFAs operate in every state, the District of Columbia, New York City, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A majority of HFAs administer the HOME program, acting as the state participating jurisdiction (PJ) for their state. In addition to HOME, HFAs administer a wide range of affordable housing and community development programs, including tax‐exempt Housing Bonds, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit), Section 8, down payment assistance, and state trust funds.

    With HOME, states have provided more than a half-million quality, affordable homes. HOME uniquely empowers states to respond to the full spectrum of housing needs, from homeless to rental to ownership to disaster recovery. States invest HOME funds in a wide variety of rental and homeownership programs and developments, including new construction, rehabilitation, down payment assistance, and tenant‐based rental assistance. HOME is used in both urban and rural areas, and serves all low-income populations, including families with children, the elderly, and persons with special needs. States leverage HOME by generating almost four dollars of other public and private funding for every HOME dollar.

    HOME funding is a vital piece in financing numerous affordable housing developments—many of which would not be able to go forward and many of which could not provide housing for low-income families without HOME assistance. HOME complements and supports many critical federal housing programs, including Section 202 housing for the elderly, section 811 housing for persons with disabilities, rural housing programs, and the Housing Credit, making development financing feasible and achieving deeper income targeting than would otherwise be possible.
    State PJs receive 40 percent of annual HOME funding and must commit the funds within 2 years. They monitor HOME-assisted units to ensure long-term affordability and compliance with program rules. NCSHA regularly facilitates training opportunities for and information exchange among state PJs to assist their efforts to administer the program effectively.

    NCSHA recognizes that any misused HOME dollars represent not only misspent taxpayer dollars but also a loss of assistance to those we are dedicated to helping and we are also disturbed by any report of fraud associated with HOME funding. However, we ask that as you review the HOME program, you review it in the context of its undeniable record of success—the more than one million affordable homes it has produced.

    We urge your continued, bipartisan support of the HOME program so that communities may continue to use it to produce the affordable, decent housing that meets their unique needs.

    Sincerely,
    Barbara J. Thompson
    Executive Director

    Cc: The Honorable Spencer Bachus
    The Honorable Barney Frank
    Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity Members
    Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Members