On March 6, the House Committee on Financial Services marked up its FY13 budget Views and Estimates (see article elsewhere in Memo). It passed out of committee on a party line vote of 26-19.

 

In the document, the Committee questioned the Administration’s proposal to fund the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF), saying that there are other federal programs administered by agencies other than HUD that address needs similar to those the NHTF was established to meet. In its FY12 Views and Estimates, the Committee expressed concern that NHTF was duplicative of the HOME Investment Partnership program.

 

In fact, there is no other federal program that is designed exclusively to produce rental housing for extremely low income (ELI) households.  HOME is designed to serve low and very low income households, but not the extremely low income households that experience the greatest housing need and would be served by the NHTF.