NCSHA Spearheads Legislative Effort to Enable Use of Fiscal Recovery Funds with Housing Credit

This week, more than 80 organizations joined an NCSHA-led effort to urge Congress to amend the underlying statute of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) program to facilitate its use with the Housing Credit. In a February 28 letter to congressional leaders, NCSHA and our partners made the case that Congress should allow SLFRF to be used for long-term loans to Housing Credit-financed developments. Groups signing the letter included representatives of state and local governments and affordable housing industry participants from across the nation.

With construction costs rising due to pandemic-related price increases, supply chain disruptions, and workforce challenges, many Housing Credit developments in the pipeline are facing unexpected financing gaps, putting these projects at risk. In response to this, numerous state Housing Credit agencies and local governments are seeking to use SLFRF as a gap filler, but current requirements for those funds make doing so very difficult and sometimes impossible. NCSHA recently hosted a members-only webinar on strategies and challenges for using SLFRF in Housing Credit developments. (Members must be logged into the NCSHA website to view the video.)  The legislative fix NCSHA is proposing would allow states and localities to easily leverage SLFRF with the Housing Credit to help these properties, sidestepping these challenges.

NCSHA is working with leaders on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Senate Finance Committee, and House Oversight and Reform Committee and other key members of Congress on this effort, in the hopes that language facilitating use of SLFRF with the Housing Credit could be included in the soon-to-be considered FY 2022 omnibus appropriations bill.