The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) applauds HUD’s publication of the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) interim rule in the Federal Register today. Issuance of the interim rule will set in motion state plans for distributing NHTF dollars in early 2016, leading to more homes for extremely low income renters. NLIHC will post a detailed analysis in the coming days.
The NHTF, established as a provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, is a federal program for collecting and distributing dedicated funds for affordable homes not dependent on the Congressional appropriations process. The NHTF is a block grant to the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the four U.S. territories. Its purpose is to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing, principally for households with extremely low income, those at or below 30% of the area median income.
The interim rule follows the December decision by Mel Watt, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to lift the suspension on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s statutory obligation to set aside a small percentage of the value of their new mortgage purchases for the NHTF and the Capital Magnet Fund.
“Currently, the nation has a shortage of 7.1 million rental homes that are affordable and available to extremely low income households. States can now begin to plan their use of this new resource to help narrow the gap in affordable housing,” said Ed Gramlich, regulatory specialist at NLIHC.
Mr. Gramlich is available for further comment.
About NLIHC
Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.