NCSHA Washington Report | May 20, 2022
We’re thrilled to announce today a new NCSHA effort to support strategic partnerships between state HFAs, hospitals, and other health organizations to finance affordable housing in community-responsive projects around the country.
NCSHA’s Healthy Housing, Healthy Communities (H3C) Partnerships initiative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will provide grants to the HFAs of Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington to put partnerships and financing commitments together.
“The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation believes state housing finance agencies are uniquely positioned to drive deeper and more impactful connections between the housing and health sectors that result in more capital for affordable housing,” said Kimberlee Cornett, director of impact investments for the foundation. “Our investment will help HFAs test and refine approaches that we hope can be replicated and scaled across the country.”
Like most of the best ideas in state housing finance, the H3C Partnerships draw inspiration from a successful example. The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program has generated more than $140 million in HFA and hospital financing for five affordable housing developments to date and demonstrates the catalytic role HFAs can play with major health players in their states.
Each of the state HFAs receiving the funding announced today will aim for similar results, through their own approaches that reflect the specific housing needs and health system players in their states. All of them will put additional agency resources on the table as they seek the same from participating hospitals. And every collaboration will reflect serious, substantive community-level involvement.
The Center for Community Investment (CCI), which has helped connect health institutions to investable affordable housing opportunities around the country over the last few years, is a key advisor to the H3C Partnerships.
“As CCI has supported health institutions investing in affordable housing over the last few years, one of the most important things we’ve learned is that partnerships, both with the public sector and community residents, are critical to the success of this work and its impact on health equity,” said CCI Executive Director Robin Hacke. “We are excited to help the H3C initiative encourage more such partnerships and create new opportunities to invest upstream to improve community health.”
Interest among state HFAs in making deeper health-housing connections and engaging hospitals and others to invest more in affordable development is not limited to the agencies receiving H3C grant funding. HFAs around the country are seeking strategic collaborations with anchor institutions in local communities who recognize that housing has to be a priority, whether it’s in the mission statement or not. More to come.
Stockton Williams | Executive Director
Washington Report will return on June 3.
State HFA Emergency Housing Assistance
In This Issue
- NCSHA, 30 Organizations Ask HUD to Improve HOME Program Rule
- NCSHA Asks DOL to Streamline, Simplify Davis-Bacon Rules
- White House’s Action Plan Seeks to Close Housing Supply Gap
- HUD Announces Formula Allocations for HOME, Trust Fund, Other Programs
- Senate Banking Committee Discusses Energy-Efficient, Resilient Housing and Climate Change
- Fannie Mae Issues $5M Innovation Challenge to Advance Racial Equity
- Bollinger Foundation Seeks Nominations for Families Needing Assistance
- NCSHA in the News
- Looking Ahead
NCSHA, 30 Organizations Ask HUD to Improve HOME Program Rule
On Wednesday, NCSHA and 30 additional organizations sent Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge a letter in support of modernizing the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program. The Biden–Harris Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan, released this week, commits to advancing HOME as a key tool for producing and preserving affordable rental and homeownership housing by updating HOME program guidance and through reauthorization of the program. Some improvements require legislation; NCSHA and the HOME Coalition are working with Congress to address those issues. However, HUD can do much on its own to strengthen the program, improve its operations, and reduce red tape that would allow states and localities to do more with their existing HOME resources. The organizations that signed the letter are committed to working with HUD as it sets out to review and modernize HOME regulations and guidance.
NCSHA Asks DOL to Streamline, Simplify Davis-Bacon Rules
On Tuesday, NCSHA submitted comments asking the Department of Labor (DOL) to amend its regulations to reduce the complexity, time, and cost of compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act to ensure HFAs and their partners continue to deliver high-quality affordable housing and support the workforce who delivers that housing. NCSHA wrote the comments in response to DOL’s March 18 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts regulations, the most comprehensive review of the Davis-Bacon Act regulations in 40 years. The Davis-Bacon Act requires payment of prevailing wages on federally funded or assisted construction projects and applies to many HFA-administered programs, including the Housing Credit and HUD programs.
White House’s Action Plan Seeks to Close Housing Supply Gap
The Housing Supply Action Plan the Biden–Harris Administration released earlier this week includes numerous and specific steps the administration pledges to take to help close the gap between housing supply and demand within five years and calls on Congress to take several actions as well. Among the plan’s potentially more consequential items for HFAs are finalizing Housing Credit Average Income Test regulations, increasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Housing Credit equity investment, updating and streamlining HOME Investment Partnerships program guidance and regulations, and doing more with the Federal Financing Bank program for Federal Housing Administration–Housing Finance Agency (FHA-HFA) Risk Sharing. The White House again called on Congress to expand and strengthen the Housing Credit, enact the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, and boost funding for the HOME program and the Housing Trust Fund. For more information on the Housing Supply Action Plan, see NCSHA’s blog.
HUD Announces Formula Allocations for HOME, Trust Fund, Other Programs
On May 17, HUD released its FY22 state formula allocations under several housing and community development programs administered by its Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD). The following programs, several of which are administered at the state level by some HFAs, will receive a total of $6.3 billion in grant funding:
- Community Development Block Grant – $3.3 billion
- HOME Investment Partnerships – $1.5 billion
- Housing Trust Fund – $738 million
- Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS – $405 million
- Emergency Solutions Grants – $290 million
- CDBG Recovery Housing Program – $25 million
- CDBG CV-3 Reallocations – $3 million
The remaining $4 billion of the $10.3 billion made available in the announcement is for the FY22 Capital Fund Program Awards ($3.2 billion) and FY22 Indian Housing Block Grant Formula Allocations ($775 million). More information on CPD’s FY22 formula grants is available here.
Senate Banking Committee Discusses Energy-Efficient, Resilient Housing and Climate Change
This week the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing to discuss Addressing Climate Change with Energy-Efficient and Resilient Housing. Senate Democrats explored strategies to bolster the supply of affordable, healthy, energy- and water-efficient, and climate-ready housing. The discussion addressed opportunities for additional investment in related programs and improving and aligning existing U.S. Department of Energy, HUD, and Federal Emergency Management Agency programs. Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-PA) suggested, to address housing affordability, the focus should instead be on policies and regulations that restrict energy markets and may drive up household energy costs.
Testifying before the committee, Krista Egger, vice president of building resilient futures at Enterprise Community Partners, highlighted the financial, health, and stability benefits of energy- and water-efficiency upgrades in housing for low-income homeowners and renters. Egger also testified about the importance of immediate resiliency investments in the nation’s affordable housing portfolio to reduce risk and lower the future economic consequences of extreme weather events.
Fannie Mae Issues $5M Innovation Challenge to Advance Racial Equity
On May 16, Fannie Mae announced the availability of $5 million for innovative ideas that will help advance racial equity in housing. Public-, private-, and nonprofit-sector entities and individuals and teams focused on addressing supply, funding, and credit barriers are eligible to apply. The funding is part of Fannie Mae’s Innovation Challenge and Sustainable Communities Partnership and Innovation initiative, which focuses on developing collaborative, cross-sector approaches to advancing sustainable communities. IC22 will award contracts to organizations, companies, and individuals implementing or scaling projects that remove barriers currently preventing many households, including Black households, from purchasing or renting a home. The Call for Ideas window will be open through June 17.
Bollinger Foundation Seeks Nominations for Families Needing Assistance
The Bollinger Foundation is accepting applications for assistance for families who have lost a parent and in which the deceased or surviving parent worked or works in any related fields of assisted housing, community development, or economic development. The Bollinger Foundation was founded after the death of Steve Bollinger, a former Assistant Secretary of HUD. Nominations will be accepted through June 1.
NCSHA in the News
Latin Post, 5.15.22, Stimulus Check 2022 Update: Up to $800 Payments Coming in California in July, Other State Benefits Revealed
The Union Journal, 5.15.22, Stimulus Check: Americans In 43 States Are Eligible For More Money
Newsweek, 5.13.22, Stimulus Check: Americans In 43 States Are Eligible For More Money
Community99, 5.13.22, Americans In 43 States Are Eligible For More Money
Legislative and Regulatory Activities
- May 25 | Senate Banking Committee Housing Subcommittee Hearing on the Rural Housing Service
- May 31 | Comments Due | HUD Proposed Rule on Increased 40-Year Term for Loan Modifications
- July 11 | Comments Due to NCSHA | Joint Agency Proposed Community Reinvestment Act Regulations
- August 5 | Comments Due | Joint Agency Proposed Community Reinvestment Act Regulations
NCSHA, State HFA, and Industry Events
- May 23 | NCSHA’s Housing Credit Connect: Last Day for Registration and Hotel Discounts | Chicago
- May 24 | Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies Webinar: Improving America’s Housing Finance System with Senior Fellow Don Layton | Virtual, registration required
- May 25 – 27 | ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law Annual Conference | Washington, DC
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - June 8 – 9 | CAHEC Partners Conference | Greensboro, NC
Stockton Williams will speak at this event. - June 21 – 24 | NCSHA’s Housing Credit Connect | Chicago
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