- On behalf of the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), I urge HUD to amend the proposed rule to exempt state housing Finance Agencies (HFA) from the licensing requirements under the SAFE Act. If HUD determines the statute does not permit such an exemption, we urge HUD to give states the flexibility and authority to exempt HFAs from SAFE Act state licensing requirements. We also recommend HUD amend its definitions of what it means to “offer or negotiate” loan terms “for compensation or gain” to clarify that HFAs do not fall under those definitions.
- Preserving affordable housing is more important now than ever. The nation’s foreclosure and credit crisis has pushed many families from homeownership to rental housing. As former homeowners enter the rental market, a surging number of renters are competing for a limited supply of affordable housing, exacerbating market pressures.
- In addition to providing a housing safety net for some of our lowest income families, vouchers and project-based Section 8 assistance make it possible for Housing Credit, Bond, and HOME properties to house lower income families than they otherwise could.
- NCSHA signed on to this Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding letter that asks the Senate and House Budget Committees to set the FY 2011 discretionary spending cap at a level that will allow for not only continued funding for all of HUD’s programs, but increased funding to meet growing needs.
- NCSHA sent this letter to HUD, expressing our serious concerns about the Department’s draft ACC and plans for rebidding the PBCA program.
- State agencies award Housing Credits to housing developers, who turn the Credits into construction funds by selling them to investors. These funds allow developers to borrow less money and pass through the savings in lower rents for low-income tenants.
- The Housing Choice Voucher (voucher) program is one of the federal government’s largest housing programs helping low-income families find affordable housing. Project-based Section 8 rental assistance program contracts provide subsidies that are assigned to particular developments to help offset the cost of construction and rehabilitation and to make up the difference between market rents and what a low-income tenant can afford.
- HOME is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively to produce affordable housing for low-income families. It allows states and localities to decide how best to use the scarce HOME funds to meet their most urgent affordable housing needs.
- The Housing Trust Fund (Trust Fund) is a permanent federal fund authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). It provides grants to States to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low and very low-income families, including homeless families, and to increase homeownership for extremely low-income families and individuals.
The Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) and tax-exempt multifamily housing bond programs (collectively, Housing Bonds) have provided 4 million lower-income Americans with affordable homeownership and another 1 million with rental housing opportunities.
