BRIDGE Housing releases paper on building housing more efficiently

Last month, BRIDGE Housing, an NHC member based in San Francisco, released a report prepared by Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, another NHC member, on solutions toward accelerated and efficient affordable housing development. The report focuses on technologies and strategies that can lower labor and materials costs, including off-site construction. “The need for quality affordable rental housing is greater than ever, but the cost of creating and preserving these homes is growing unsustainably,” BRIDGE President and CEO Cynthia Parker said in a statement. “The crisis demands innovative approaches that will help rapidly increase the housing supply. Cost containment is an essential strategy for BRIDGE and other mission-driven developers.”

Habitat for Humanity launches housing affordability campaign

Habitat for Humanity launched its Cost of Home campaign last week to find solutions for housing affordability for 10 million Americans. The campaign, which is the organization’s first ever nationwide advocacy campaign, includes a policy platform that calls attention to four policy areas:

In an interview for an article released as part of the campaign, NHC President and CEO David Dworkin said, “Families should not have to live in fear of choosing between paying for a roof over their head or paying for food or medicine or clothing for their kids.”

Calabria calls for legislative action on GSE reform

In a meeting with NHC and other housing advocates, FHFA Director Mark Calabria reiterated his support for maintaining Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s housing goals, and fully funding the Capital Magnet Fund and Housing Trust Fund “as long as they are making money.” Calabria also met with civil rights leaders in an earlier meeting, and has pledged to maintain open communication with a broad range of housing leaders. In the FHFA’s 2018 Report to Congress, released last week, Dr. Calabria requested Congress give him the authority to charter new GSEs to compete with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because their “duopoly undercuts competition in the market,” and to withdraw the charter of a failing GSE without Congressional action. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Calabria justified pursuing administrative reform without Congress, saying “If I do nothing and don’t push, then I’m fairly certain Congress will do nothing.” Calabria elaborated on his vision for GSE reform in a speech he gave last week at the 2019 Ginnie Mae Summit, calling for a limited but explicit government guarantee for the GSEs.

House Financial Services Committee approves housing-related bills

Last Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee held a markup of eight bills, all of which were approved, and several of which were related to housing issues. Two bills would establish new guidelines for FHA mortgages: one that would provide discounted FHA loans to first-time homebuyers who complete a housing counseling program, and one that would limit mortgage insurance payments on FHA-backed loans. Three of the bills would block recent HUD-announced rule changes on transgender people’s access to homeless shelters, mixed-immigration status families’ ability to receive housing assistance, and DACA recipients’ eligibility for FHA-, USDA-, or GSE-backed loans, respectively. Finally, two of the bills concerned the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), changing its appeals and litigation process and reauthorizing the NFIP for five years. Both NFIP-related bills were passed unanimously.

USA Today investigates reverse mortgages

In an investigation published last week, USA Today found that reverse mortgages have “become a platform for predatory lending.” The investigation found that almost 100,000 reverse mortgages have failed since the Great Recession, which has disproportionately affected predominantly black neighborhoods. The rate of foreclosure from reverse mortgages, USA Today found, was six times higher in mostly black neighborhoods than in mostly white ones. In an op-ed responding to the investigation, National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association CEO Peter Bell argued that reverse mortgages “are an important retirement planning tool.”

MBA launches affordable housing initiative

Last week, the MBA announced the launch of a new initiative to promote housing affordability with a specific focus on minorities and low- to moderate-income individuals. The initiative will be led by Steve O'Connor, who will become the MBA’s Senior Vice President for Affordable Housing Initiatives and is also a member of NHC’s Board of Governors. “There is no easy solution,” said O'Connor. “The only way we are going to solve this is by getting lenders together with policymakers, consumer advocates, community leaders, and other stakeholders, and using our collective knowledge and experience to find the answers.”

Castro releases housing affordability plan

This week, Democratic presidential candidate and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro released Parts I, II and III of his housing affordability plan. The plan calls for, among other things, quadrupling the size of the Section 8 voucher program, creating a new tax credit for renters whose rent exceeds 30 percent of their income, starting a $200 billion Green Infrastructure Fund to combat climate change, increasing homeownership and holding Wall Street accountable. In the first part of his plan, Castro wrote, “The rental affordability crisis touches people and situations as diverse as our nation, including seniors on a fixed income, young adults trying to save for their first home, renters of modest means in gentrifying urban neighborhoods, and mobile home owners who rent the land under their homes. Given the variety of these situations, there is clearly no one-size-fits-all approach to resolving this crisis.”

Bill to help with home rehabilitation introduced

On Tuesday, Representatives Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) introduced the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act. The bill, H.R.3316, would use federal income tax credits to mobilize private investment to build and substantially rehabilitate homes for moderate- and middle-income homeowners. These tax credits would bridge the gap between the cost of building or renovating homes and the price at which they can be sold, thus making renovation and new home construction in distressed neighborhoods possible. NHC strongly supports this bill and has been working alongside many other organizations to advocate for its introduction and passage.