NCSHA Blogs
House and Senate Appropriators Release Partial FY24 Omnibus Spending Legislation
On March 3, House and Senate appropriators released bill text for the first tranche of final Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) spending legislation that Congress must now pass by March 8. Among other agencies, the legislative package sets FY24 spending levels for the Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Cortez Masto, Beatty Introduce Legislation to Reauthorize HOME Program
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH) recently introduced the HOME Investment Partnerships Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act (S. 3793/H.R. 7075) to reauthorize the HOME program, increase the authorized funding level to $5 billion, and make a number of needed program improvements. The legislation, if enacted, would represent the first time the HOME program was reauthorized in three decades, since 1994.
House Passes Tax Bill with Housing Credit Expansion By Wide, Bipartisan Margin
Last night, the House of Representatives passed the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024), which would significantly increase Housing Credit resources over the next two years. The bill is the result of a deal struck by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) after months of negotiation.
Tax Deal Would Restore Housing Credit Authority and Lower Bond Test Through 2025
This morning, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) announced they had reached a deal on tax legislation they hope Congress will pass before the January 29 start of the 2023 tax filing season. After concerted efforts from Housing Credit champions on the Hill and advocacy by NCSHA and our partners in the ACTION Campaign, the deal includes an increase in Housing Credit authority and lowering the multifamily bond financing threshold for 4 percent developments.
FHFA Ups Cap on GSE Housing Credit Investment, Prohibits GSEs from Investing in Deals If Owners Do Not Waive Qualified Contract Option
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today issued an announcement that it will allow the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest up to $1 billion in the Housing Credit equity market in 2024, an increase from the $850 million it allowed each GSE to invest in 2023. Any Housing Credit investments the GSEs make above $500 million each year must be for developments FHFA identifies as having difficulty attracting investors, thus the increase is targeted to housing located in rural areas consistent with the GSEs’ Duty-to-Serve requirements, preservation, mixed-income properties, and supportive housing.
FHA Annual Report Highlights Agency’s Lending to Underserved Borrowers and Loss Mitigation Efforts
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) earlier today released its 2023 Annual Report to Congress. The report finds FHA continued to play a critical role in supporting home financing for first-time home buyers and other underserved borrowers in fiscal year (FY) 2023. Other highlights include FHA’s efforts to help homeowners impacted by Covid and the status of FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMIF).
Federal Banking Regulators Publish Comprehensive CRA Overhaul
The three major federal banking regulators — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — earlier today approved a final rule that substantially reforms bank requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations. The regulators argue that the rule, which they first proposed in May 2022, modernizes the CRA requirements to reflect market developments since the regulations were last overhauled in 1995 and to encourage more critical investment and lending to benefit low- and moderate-income households and communities.
HUD Delays Compliance Date for NSPIRE Protocols for Community Planning and Development Programs
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced it is delaying until October 1, 2024, the compliance date for its National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) final rule as it applies to Community Planning and Development (CPD) programs. The NSPIRE final rule, published May 11, 2023, initially required compliance for CPD programs to begin October 1, 2023. Programs covered by the delay notice include the HOME Investment Partnerships, Housing Trust Fund, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, Emergency Solution Grants, and Continuum of Care programs.
GAO Releases Report on Housing Trust Fund
On August 8, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report entitled “Affordable Housing: Improvements Needed in HUD’s Oversight of the Housing Trust Fund Program.” The report identified several deficiencies in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s management of the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) program and included five recommendations to improve HTF oversight.
