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Housing Trust Fund Bill Heads to House Floor
The House Financial Services Committee last week approved legislation to create a national housing trust fund that would provide grants and other assistance in support of the production, rehabilitation and preservation of up to 1.5 million affordable housing units over the next decade.
H.R. 2895, The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007, was approved by a 45 to 23 committee vote.
“The growing shortage of affordable housing is one of the most serious social and economic problems facing our country. Given our severely constrained fiscal realities, we are today doing the best we can to address this — creating a low-income housing trust fund that will be paid for in ways that do not draw from federal tax revenues,” said committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
Funding for the trust fund would come from surplus Federal Housing Administration mortgage lending revenue as directed in H.R. 1852, which the panel approved in May, and from a percentage of the investment portfolios of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which would be mandated under a government-sponsored enterprise reform bill (H.R. 1427) that also was passed in May by the full House.
NAHB supports the creation of a housing trust fund and has been working with members from both sides of the aisle on ways to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the new fund.
Of specific note from last week’s markup, the committee adopted an NAHB-supported amendment that would strengthen the emphasis on rural housing, as well as several amendments designed to address the income targeting requirements in the bill to allow grantees and grant recipients to meet a wider range of critical housing needs.
The bill now heads to the House floor where NAHB will continue to work with members on key enhancements.
To read the legislation, click here and enter H.R. 2895 in the box at the center of the page.
For more information, e-mail Scott Meyer at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8144.
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