NCSHA Washington Report | September 10, 2021
With millions of renters billions behind on rent and utilities, and many at grave risk of losing their homes, it’s understandable the primary federal policy to help them catch up — the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program — has been the subject of intense focus for policymakers, advocates, and the press since its inception.
Today’s high-profile review of the program in the House Financial Services Committee comes at an inflection point. ERA has done a lot of good and is working better in more places but not well enough everywhere to hold off potentially preventable evictions and other suffering absent significant changes.
Some changes only Congress can make by reforming ERA’s underlying statute. Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), ERA’s architect and second to nobody on Capitol Hill in her command of housing policy, politics, and program implementation, believes “legislation is needed to further reform this program to greatly strengthen its effectiveness.”
NCSHA agrees, and we strongly support Chairwoman Waters’ legislative proposal to make ERA more efficient and effective for its three key constituencies: low-income renters, their landlords, and the state and local agencies responsible for making them whole.
Some necessary improvements can come from state and local ERA agencies. Margaret Salazar, Oregon Housing and Community Services executive director and second to nobody among state officials in her commitment to housing justice, has revised her program in response to feedback from renters and landlords and continually evolving federal rules.
Oregon HCS and its partners have provided more than $200 million in rental assistance since the beginning of the year from both state and federal sources, $35 million of which is ERA funding. Margaret’s leadership is national too; she testified before Chairwoman Waters’ committee today on behalf of her fellow public servant ERA administrators, still underway at our press time.
Something ERA could use less of is continued posturing and finger-pointing, which has fed misleading media coverage that’s served nobody’s interests except opponents of more rent relief. Anyway, as Ingrid Gould Ellen says, “[Y]ou don’t have enough fingers on your hand to point the blame.”
The Urban Institute’s Jim Parrot and Moody’s Mark Zandi put forward an antidote last night, in an incisive assessment of where ERA is today and where it needs to go quickly. Their legitimate critique of state and local implementation stumbles is balanced by a data-driven look at the “remarkable scale of the eviction challenge” and where it will likely be most acute in the months ahead.
They make the critical point, “what matters to the success of grantees is how many eligible renters they are able to save from eviction with this relief, not the percentage of appropriated funds they have managed to spend to date…which is a misleading metric given how much more money has been appropriated than is needed in many states.”
Zandi and Parrot’s call for greater urgency is loud and clear, and they recommend specific steps by all levels of government before they conclude “there is cause to be optimistic” ERA can succeed. That’s something worth pointing to.
Stockton Williams | Executive Director
State HFA Emergency Housing Assistance
In This Issue
- Waters Seeks to Improve ERA Program; Salazar Testifies at House Hearing
- NCSHA, Other ERA Grantee Groups Send Reallocation Recommendations to Treasury
- White House Reinstates FFB Risk-Sharing Program, Ups GSE Housing Credit Investment Cap, Announces Other Actions to Increase Affordable Housing Supply
- Financial Services Committee Releases Draft Reconciliation Bill; Proposes Historic Investments in Affordable Housing Programs
- NeighborWorks America Awards $88 Million in Counseling Fund Grants to HFAs, Others
- HUD Publishes 2022 Housing Credit QCTs and DDAs
- FHFA Announces Equitable Housing Finance Plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- HUD Outlines Its Steps to Protect Renters in Light of Eviction Moratorium’s End
- NCSHA in the News
- Looking Ahead
Waters Seeks to Improve ERA Program; Salazar Testifies at House Hearing
On September 7, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced the Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act of 2021 (H.R. 5196), which would remove barriers and expedite assistance under the Emergency Rental Assistance program. NCSHA supports the bill, which would reform program eligibility requirements, provide a safe harbor to protect grantees from liability, allow landlords to apply even without the consent of a tenant or if the tenant has vacated the property, extend the time period during which a household may receive assistance, make housing stability services more flexible, and increase the amount of funds grantees may use for administration. Oregon Housing and Community Services Director and NCSHA Vice Chair Margaret Salazar testified on behalf of NCSHA at a hearing on the bill today. For more information, see our blog.
NCSHA, Other ERA Grantee Groups Send Reallocation Recommendations to Treasury
Last week, NCSHA, in partnership with the National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, American Public Human Services Association, Council of State Community Development Agencies, National American Indian Housing Council, and National Community Development Association, recommended to Treasury that it ask grantees to fill out a survey, which the groups provided, so that it would have the information it needs to fairly and responsibly reobligate excess ERA 1 funding as required by the statute. The survey is intended to help Treasury determine for each grantee whether it expects to have excess, unobligated Emergency Rental Assistance funds after September 30, 2021, and for a grantee that meets the program’s 65 percent obligation threshold by that date, whether it will need additional ERA 1 funds to meet demand before the program’s expenditure deadline on September 30, 2022. The survey is based off the reobligation principles NCSHA and the other grantee groups sent Treasury in early July. The survey and principles can be found here.
White House Reinstates FFB Risk-Sharing Program, Ups GSE Housing Credit Investment Cap, Announces Other Actions to Increase Affordable Housing Supply
Last week, the White House announced HUD, Treasury, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHFA will take a series of actions designed to help increase the supply of affordable housing. One of the key changes the administration announced is the reinstatement of the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) initiative to support FHA-HFA multifamily Risk-Sharing Program loans. NCSHA has sought this reinstatement energetically for the last three years since the previous administration terminated the very successful initiative. Another key policy is an increase in the limits on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Housing Credit investments, which NCSHA also has recommended. FHFA said last week these limits will be increased immediately to $850 million annually from the current $500 million caps. For more information, read NCSHA’s blog and statement on the administration’s announcement.
Financial Services Committee Releases Draft Reconciliation Bill; Proposes Historic Investments in Affordable Housing Programs
Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee released the text of legislation that would appropriate more than $300 billion in funding for affordable housing programs, including $35 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships program, $37 billion for the Housing Trust Fund, and $10 billion for a new federal program through which states and nonprofits would provide first-generation home buyers with grants for down payment assistance and other expenses associated with purchasing a home. The committee intends to consider the legislation during a mark-up on Monday. Read NCSHA’s blog for more information.
NeighborWorks America Awards $88 Million in Counseling Fund Grants to HFAs, Others
NeighborWorks America on Thursday announced awards totaling more than $88 million to 131 organizations — including 18 state HFAs — to support foreclosure and eviction prevention counseling efforts through the newly established Housing Stability Counseling Program (HSCP). NeighborWorks received funding through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to create the HSCP with the goal of supporting housing counseling providers as part of wider government effort to keep individuals and families in their homes despite the financial hardships brought on by the pandemic. The list of organizations receiving funding is available here.
HUD Publishes 2022 Housing Credit QCTs and DDAs
This week, HUD published its annual list of areas that qualify as Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) or Difficult Development Areas (DDAs) for purposes of the Housing Credit program. Properties located in these areas are eligible for up to a 30 percent basis boost if they receive an allocation of credits after December 31, 2021, or, for bond-financed properties, if bonds are issued and the project is placed in service after December 31, 2021. QCTs are areas where either 50 percent or more of the households have incomes less than 60 percent of area median gross income (AMGI) or at least 25 percent of the population is below the federal poverty level. DDAs are areas with high construction, land, and utility costs relative to AMGI. Maps of QCTs and DDAs, along with details on designation methodology and eligibility rules for properties in areas that lose QCT or DDA designation in subsequent years, are available at the above link.
FHFA Announces Equitable Housing Finance Plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
On Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) to submit Equitable Housing Finance Plans by the end of this year and to update their plans and submit progress reports annually. FHFA is requiring that the plans identify and address barriers to sustainable housing opportunities, as well as the Enterprises’ goals and action plans to advance equity in housing finance for the next three years. FHFA also issued a Request for Input to solicit comments to assist the Enterprises in preparing their first plans. Comments are due by October 25. FHFA is hosting a September 28 public listening session on the Enterprises’ equitable housing finance plans.
HUD Outlines Its Steps to Protect Renters in Light of Eviction Moratorium’s End
This week, HUD announced the various actions it is taking to safeguard renters and prevent evictions. These include making more than $19 million available to fair housing partners to help them respond to fair housing violations and increasing funding to HUD-approved housing counseling agencies so they may help clients understand their options if they are facing eviction; making $20 million available for legal assistance to low-income tenants at risk of or subject to eviction; instituting an eviction moratorium to help borrowers with HUD-supported or FHA-insured mortgages; requiring public housing authorities (PHAs) and private owners of properties receiving project-based rental assistance to provide tenants facing eviction with more time to secure rental assistance; working with Treasury to help Emergency Rental Assistance grantees connect with tenants; and providing resources and education to PHAs, HUD-assisted landlords and tenants, and people experiencing homelessness.
NCSHA in the News
Next City, 9.3.21, Housing in Brief: The Cities and States Implementing Local Eviction Bans
Affordable Housing Finance, 9.2.21, White House Announces Steps to Increase Affordable Housing; The HFA risk-sharing program is returning after being suspended
Notes from Novogradac, 9.2.21, DASH Act’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Provisions Could Finance More than 1 Million Additional Affordable Rental Homes as Key Component of Comprehensive Housing Legislation
Politico, 8.28.21, ‘Nobody is this incompetent’: Rental aid slowdown puts target on governors, mayors
US News & World Report, 8.27.21, Kansas agency faces pressure to speed aid, prevent evictions
Legislative and Regulatory Activities
- September 9 – 10, 13 – 14 | House Ways and Means Committee Markup of Reconciliation Legislation
- September 10 | House Financial Services Committee Hearing on ERA Program Reform
- September 13 | House Financial Services Committee Markup of Reconciliation Legislation
- September 28 | FHFA Listening Session on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Equitable Housing Finance Plans
- October 11 | Comments Due to NCSHA | FHFA Request for Input on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Equitable Finance Plans
- October 11 | Comments Due to NCSHA | FHFA Proposed Affordable Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- October 25 | Comments Due | FHFA Request for Input on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Equitable Finance Plans
- October 25 | Comments Due | FHFA Proposed Affordable Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- November 16 | Application Deadline | FR-6500-N-25, Notice of Funding Opportunity FY 2021 Continuum of Care Competition
NCSHA, State HFA, and Industry Events
- September 20 – October 8 | Up for Growth 2021 Virtual Summit for Housing Changemakers | Virtual
- September 21 | #HousingDC21 | Virtual
Stockton Williams and Garth Rieman will speak at this event. - September 23 | Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition 2021 Fall Meeting | Washington, DC
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - September 26 – 29 | NCSHA’s 50th Annual Conference
- October 4 ‒ 6 | The 28th Annual Washington State Affordable Housing Conference | Virtual
Garth Rieman will speak at this event. - October 20 – 21 | 2021 Maine Affordable Housing Conference | Virtual
Stockton Williams will speak at this event. - November 9 | Manufactured Housing Institute NCC Fall Leadership Forum | Chicago
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - November 9 | ProLink Solutions Annual User Conference | Virtual
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event.
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