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NCSHA Washington Report | July 16, 2021

Published on July 16, 2021

Washington Report NCSHA

An Open Letter to America’s Landlords

On behalf of state agencies administering federal emergency rental assistance funds, thank you for your extraordinary efforts to keep millions of low-income Americans safely housed during the pandemic, especially the millions who have been unable to keep up with their rent.

Landlords large and small have forgiven past-due amounts, provided payment plans, and helped renters access relief programs. You and your companies have made major financial sacrifices yourselves, dug into property reserves, and restructured financing arrangements with your capital providers. Your largely unheralded efforts are too numerous to count or properly thank.

We thank you.

Right now, every state has rental assistance available to you and your renters – and these state programs are operating faster and more efficiently every day.

  • State programs paid and processed requests for more than half-a-million renters by the end of June.
  • These programs will have paid out upwards of $3 billion by the end of this month.
  • The pace of payouts has doubled or more than doubled in each of the last four months.

We are very concerned that millions of renters and many landlords who would benefit from rental assistance have not applied for it — and may not even know assistance is available.

A recent survey of smaller apartment owners found “less than 6 percent of landlords and 11 percent of tenants indicated that they applied for federal emergency rental assistance.”

If you haven’t already, we urge you and your renters to apply for assistance today:

  • Most state programs have paid more than 25 percent of the completed applications they have received, and many have paid more than 40 or 50 percent already.
  • Denial rates are extremely low.
  • Hundreds of thousands of applications are in process right now and will be paid soon.

We understand some of you and your renters are frustrated with requirements of some state programs and delays in receiving payments for assistance you have requested. We ask for your continued patience as programs continue to adapt and systems continue to improve. Tell us what we can do to make the process more efficient.

States, along with hundreds of local communities, have built a new national infrastructure to deliver a new emergency rental assistance program in a matter of months. There were bumps in the road and potholes remain in some places, but pathways to relief are open everywhere.

Now is the time to apply and help your renters apply. Stockton-Williams-Washington-Report

Stockton Williams | Executive Director 

Washington Report will return on July 30.

State HFA Emergency Housing Assistance

In This Issue

Treasury Adopts NCSHA Recommendation to Delay New ERA Reporting Guidelines
On July 15, Treasury notified Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program grantees it would no longer require them to meet newly published reporting requirements for Quarters 1 and 2 by July 29 and, instead, would require them to report consistent with the new guidelines by October 15 for Quarters 1, 2, and 3. The deadline change came after a letter NCSHA — together with the other national organizations representing state, local, and tribal ERA grantees — sent Treasury on July 9 urging it to delay implementation. NCSHA is extremely pleased with Treasury’s response to our feedback. The delay will allow ERA grantees to continue to focus on the expedited delivery of ERA funds in the final days of the nationwide eviction moratorium. 

NCSHA Urges Treasury to Provide States More Flexibility, Clarity on Using Fiscal Recovery Funds for Housing
In a July 16 letter, NCSHA urged the Treasury Department to provide states with more flexibility and clarity on how they can use Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF) for affordable housing. NCSHA’s letter asked Treasury to modify the interim final rule published May 17 to allow grantees to use FRF to develop and support affordable housing in more geographic areas and for a broader range of activities, to use FRF for operating assistance, and to use repayments of FRF funds for similar affordable housing purposes.

NCSHA Urges FHFA to Strengthen GSEs’ Duty-to-Serve Obligations
During three listening sessions on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s (the GSEs) proposed Duty to Serve Underserved Markets Plans hosted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) this week, NCSHA urged FHFA and the GSEs to bolster their proposed plans and to expand their existing partnerships with HFAs. NCSHA’s comments, which closely followed written comments NCSHA separately submitted this week, recommended that the GSEs restore the pricing and terms offered in the past for their preferred products for HFAs and that FHFA eliminate the volume limits on high loan-to-value, high debt-to-income, and low credit score lending contained in the recent amendments to the GSEs’ preferred stock purchase agreements with Treasury.

NCSHA Supports Gordon and Greene Nominations
On July 9, NCSHA sent letters to Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-PA) urging them to support the nominations of Julia Gordon to serve as HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing – Federal Housing Commissioner and Solomon Greene to be HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.

NCSHA Offers Comments on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Interim Final Rule
On July 12, NCSHA submitted comments on HUD’s interim final rule repealing the 2020 Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice (PCNC) rule and reinstating certain definitions and certifications that had been in place under the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulations adopted in 2015, which were repealed by the PCNC rule. NCSHA supports both the repeal of PCNC and the reinstatement of the AFFH definitions and certifications. NCSHA also supports HUD’s intention described in the interim final rule to begin separately the process of building on and improving the 2015 AFFH rule, with the ultimate goal of reinstating a revised version of those regulations. For more information on the interim final rule, see our blog. 

NCSHA Submits Recommendations to Treasury on Accelerating Rental Assistance Delivery
Since the establishment of the Emergency Rental Assistance program at the Treasury Department, NCSHA has had numerous formal and informal communications with Treasury, White House, and HUD officials about our recommendations for how the administration could modify ERA program guidance to provide greater flexibilities to grantees so that they could accelerate the delivery of ERA funding to tenants and their landlords and utility providers. NCSHA’s formal letters to Treasury are available on our ERA webpage, as is a paper consolidating our most recent recommendations to the administration.

House Appropriations Committee Considering FY 2022 HUD Funding Bill with Substantial Increases in Many HUD Programs
At press time, the House Appropriations Committee is marking up its fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations bill for the Departments of Transportation and HUD and related agencies. We expect the committee to complete action and report the bill favorably soon. It would provide $56.5 billion for HUD programs and activities, $6.8 billion more the FY 2021 enacted level, and includes substantial increases for a number of housing programs. Notably, the bill would provide $1.85 billion for HOME, $500 million over FY 2021; $29.2 billion for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, an increase from $25.8 billion in FY 2021; $3.4 billion for Homeless Assistance Grants, an increase of $400 million from FY 2021; and $100 million for housing counseling, an increase of $42.5 million above the FY 2021 level. The House will probably consider this bill in combined legislation, including several other appropriations bills, later this month. More key program details are available in NCSHA’s blog.

Senate Readies for Dual-Track Infrastructure Action
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced this week the Senate will take up next week the bipartisan infrastructure bill funding traditional infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, and broadband. However, the sponsors of that bill are still drafting it. The bill will need 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a potential filibuster. At the same time, the Senate Budget Committee is working to finalize its FY 2022 Budget Resolution, which will include reconciliation instructions to authorizing committees directing them to report legislation in their areas of jurisdiction related to the administration’s Build Back Better agenda, including President Biden’s infrastructure priorities as contained in the American Jobs Plan.

Budget Committee members announced this week they have agreed to allow for $3.5 trillion in total spending under the bill, all of which is reportedly “paid for” with anticipated revenue raisers and other savings. The Budget Resolution and reconciliation legislation stemming from it require only a simple majority in both chambers to pass. While Democrats have those majorities, there is no room for dissension in the Senate and very little room in the House. The housing priorities of the administration and Democrats in Congress — including tax and spending provisions — would be part of the reconciliation bill. Both chambers are expected to act on the Budget Resolution before leaving Washington for the August recess. When they return in the Fall, Congress will begin the process of advancing the reconciliation legislation called for in the Budget Resolution.  

Waters Introduces Massive Housing Investment Legislation
Last night, House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced historic housing legislation, the Housing Is Infrastructure Act of 2021, which would invest more than $600 billion in various affordable housing programs, including $35 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships program, $45 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund, $150 billion for new Housing Choice Vouchers, $10 billion for down payment assistance for first-generation home buyers and those who have social and economic disadvantages, $5 billion to preserve properties receiving project based rental assistance,  and other investments in HUD and U.S. Department of Agriculture housing programs. Waters also introduced the Ending Homelessness Act of 2021, which would make the Housing Choice Voucher program a federal entitlement funded by mandatory spending rather than discretionary spending, and the Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2021 (see related article). An NCSHA blog on the Housing Is Infrastructure Act is forthcoming. 

Waters Introduces Down Payment Assistance Funding Bill
House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters on Thursday introduced the Downpayment Toward Equity Act, which would establish a grant program, funded initially at $100 billion, to fund down payment and closing cost assistance for “first-generation home buyers.” The bill would authorize HUD to award annual grants to state HFAs or other state housing agencies to provide assistance to low- and moderate-income home buyers whose parents did not own a home. Twenty-five percent of the annual grants would be awarded competitively to community development financial institutions, minority depository institutions, and other eligible entities. Home buyers could receive grants of up to $20,000, or $25,000 for socially disadvantaged individuals. For more details, read NCSHA’s detailed bill summary. A version of the bill was also included in Waters’ Housing Is Infrastructure Act, also introduced Thursday, which would authorize $10 billion through FY 2030 for the program.

Neguse Introduces Housing Credit Qualified Contract and 10-Year, Related Party Rule Bills
On June 28, Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) introduced two bills related to NCSHA Housing Credit priorities. H.R. 4205 would repeal the qualified contract exception to the Housing Credit affordability requirements for projects allocated Credits after January 1, 2019 or, in the case of bond-financed properties, that received a determination from the bond issuing agency that the building is eligible for 4 percent Credits. H.R. 4205 also would change the formula for determining the qualified contract price to fair market value as restricted for existing properties if the owner has not waived the right to a qualified contract. NCSHA expects the qualified contract bill text also to be included in comprehensive legislation Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) will soon introduce. The other Neguse bill, H.R. 4204, would modify the Housing Credit “10-year rule” and “related party rule,” both of which impact a developer’s ability to receive acquisition Credits for certain properties and create disincentives for preservation. H.R. 4204 is identical to Section 302 of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, H.R. 2573. 

House Ways and Means Committee Members Underscore Support for Housing Credit at Subcommittee Hearing
On July 14, the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing on expanding housing access to all Americans. Several members at various points in the hearing expressed support for the Housing Credit program and/or the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (H.R. 2573), including Subcommittee Chair Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Ranking Member Mike Kelly (R-PA), and members Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Judy Chu (D-CA). Walorski — the lead Republican sponsor of H.R. 2573 — in particular articulated the Housing Credit’s economic impacts and the benefits enactment of this legislation would have, discussing various aspects of the bill with National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) CEO Gerald Howard. Howard spoke to the challenges home builders face related to lumber costs, limited availability of lots, immigration restrictions, and regulations. He also mentioned NAHB’s support for reexamining and revitalizing the Mortgage Revenue Bond program. 

NLIHC “Out of Reach” Report Documents Housing Affordability Crisis
This week, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released Out of Reach 2021: The High Cost of Housing, its annual report comparing the “Housing Wage” — the amount a household must earn to afford a modest rental home — to actual wages. The 2021 national Housing Wage is $24.90 per hour for a two-bedroom home and $20.40 per hour for a one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent. The report also found that in no state, metropolitan area, or county could a full-time, minimum-wage worker afford a modest two-bedroom rental home, and that same worker could afford a modest one-bedroom rental home in only seven percent of U.S. counties. Further details are included in NCSHA’s blog.

ACTION Campaign Seeking Housing Credit Stories with Video Contest
The ACTION Campaign, which NCSHA co-chairs with Enterprise Community Partners, is calling on the affordable housing community to share stories promoting the Housing Credit in short video clips. Videos received by Friday, July 30, will be eligible for prizes in a contest ACTION is hosting. Videos should illustrate the real-life impact of the Housing Credit and the need for Congress to strengthen and expand it through the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act. Contest details can be found here. 

NCSHA in the News
Newsweek, 7.8.21, Joe Biden’s First-Time Homebuyer Credit: Where We’re At

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