On behalf of the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign, NLIHC President and CEO Sheila Crowley send letters to each member of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, better known as the Super Committee, on August 26 urging them to direct savings gained from potential reform of the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) to the NHTF.

The Super Committee is to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction measures before November 23 (see Memo, 8/19). Some analysts expect that the committee to look to the $100 billion a year subsidy to homeowners as a place to find savings. It is the position of the NHTF Campaign that any savings from reform of the MID should go in whole or in part to the NHTF. The NHTF Campaign supports lowering the cap on the size of mortgage for which interest can be deducted to $500,000 and converting the deduction to a non-refundable 15% tax credit.

One member of the Super Committee is Senator John Kerry (D-MA), who was the sponsor of the first bills to establish a NHTF in 2000, 2001, 2003. Another member, Representative Fred Upton (R-MI), cosponsored NHTF bills in the House in several earlier Congresses.

To read the letters, go to http://nlihc.org/doc/NHTF_SuperCommittee_Letters_8-11.pdf