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Also important to NAHB members is the increase in the FHA Multifamily Loan Commitment Authority to $35 billion, a $10 billion increase from last year’s authorization.
It is widely believed that the increase in commitment authority will help the program to avoid the shutdowns that have plagued it for the past few years. NAHB had strongly urged the appropriators to accept this increase in commitment authority.
Funding levels for rural housing programs in FY '05 were a mixed bag, with the Sec. 521 rental assistance and Sec. 502 guaranteed loan programs receiving an increase, while others were cut. For the fourth consecutive year, Sec. 538 rental housing received a $100 million appropriation.
Lumber and Elephant Ivory
NAHB worked aggressively to eliminate a proposed rider offered by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that would have extended provisions in the Lacy Act Amendments of 1981 to cover lumber imported into the U.S. The Lacey Act bans the importation of “illegal” items, and was originally intended to stop importation of elephant ivory.
The amendment would have allowed environmental groups to block lumber coming into the U.S. by claiming it was logged “illegally.” The amendment offered no guidance on how consumers would be able to tell whether a piece of lumber was illegally obtained, and provided no clear direction on how a timber company could prove that lumber was obtained from a legal source. This provision was stripped from the omnibus legislation after pressure from NAHB and other timber-related organizations.
In another victory for home builders, a provision that would have exempted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from compliance with the Data Quality Act, which sets guidelines for the collection of sound scientific data, was stripped from the bill. Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC) had inserted the language in the Senate version of the bill and NAHB succeeded in getting the exemption pulled from the omnibus legislation.
Highlights of selected programs and their funding 2005 levels under H.R. 4818:
- HOME program, $1.87 billion in funding for FY 2005, down from $2.01 billion
- Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), $4.15 billion in 2005, down from $4.93 billion in 2004
- Section 8 vouchers, $13.46 billion, up from $12.7 billion
- HOPE VI, $144 million, down from $149 million in 2004
- Rural housing and economic development, $24 million, down from $25 million
- Housing counseling assistance, $42 million, an increase from $40 million for the prior fiscal year\Brownfields redevelopment, $24 million, down from $25 million
- Section 502 direct, $1.15 billion, down from $1.37 billion
- Section 502 guaranteed, $3.31 billion, up from $2.72 billion
- Section 515 rental housing direct, $100 million, down from $116.5 million
- Section 521 rental assistance, $592 million, up from $584 million
To read the entire bill, click here and enter H.R. 4818 in the box at the upper level.
For further information, e-mail Michael Strauss or call him at 800-368-5242 x8252.
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