The Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee held a two-part hearing on Chairman Crapo’s (R-ID) outline for housing finance reform on March 26-27. Many witnesses spoke about housing affordability and how it can be most sustainably ensured through a new housing finance structure. The chairman’s outline proposes a multi-guarantor system that replaces the current affordable housing goals and “Duty to Serve” requirements with a new Market Access Fund (MAF), which would be funded along with the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) and the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF) through an annual assessment of 10 basis points of the total annual loan volume guaranteed. Significantly increased funding to the HTF – the first new housing resource in decades targeted to the building, rehabilitating, preserving, and operating rental housing for extremely low-income people - must be ensured in housing finance reform.
The Committee heard from 12 witnesses. NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel’s written statement to the Committee urges Congress to increase funding to the national HTF to at least $3.5 billion annually as part of a broader commitment to access and affordability throughout the housing market. NLIHC’s full statement can be found here.
In his opening statement, NAACP Washington Bureau Director and Senior VP for Advocacy and Policy Hilary Shelton said that any housing reform proposal must also protect and increase funding for the HTF. President of the Housing Policy Council Edward DeMarco told the Committee he supports the approach of including a “housing finance mechanism to generate funds for the production and preservation of affordable rental housing and bolster homeownership assistance.” Mr. Adam Levitin of the Georgetown University Law Center urged the Committee to support affordable housing through cross-subsidization, rather than tax-and-transfer, as part of an approach to housing finance reform.
The written testimony of National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions Executive VP of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt encouraged a continued focus on manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural markets in the text of any future bill. Vince Malta of the National Association of Realtors advocated for supporting the affirmative obligations “as directed” in 2008, including the housing goals and dedicated funding to the Capital Magnet Fund and HTF.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) expressed dissatisfaction with the elimination of affordable housing goals and with the small amount of funding for the HTF, CMF and MAF in Senator Crapo’s outline. She asked witnesses if low- and moderate-income borrowers and borrowers of color would be in a worse, better, or the same position relative to where they are now. Mr. Shelton of the NAACP asserted that they would be worse off.
Learn more about the hearing at: https://bit.ly/2uilWvI || https://bit.ly/2Y9B2Bs