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HUD recently released an Interim Report: Evaluation of HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which found that “RAD has been extremely successful in attracting capital to help stabilize affordable housing developments.” The research, performed by Econometrica Inc., provided evidence that the program is on track to accomplish its goal of attracting substantial new capital to stabilize the physical and financial conditions of public housing properties, significantly improving housing conditions for low-income residents.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently released a discussion draft of legislation to create a new middle-income housing tax credit (MIHTC) program. The MIHTC discussion draft is a detailed legislative proposal, but it is not final. It’s being circulated to stakeholders, members of Congress, federal officials, and others for review and comment. The program is modeled after and is intended to work with the LIHTC program.
HUD recently issued new guidance confirming that persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) are protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). LEP includes a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English. The guidance reasons that LEP persons are covered by the FHA because of their close nexus with the protected class of national origin.
In an opinion piece recently published on CNN.com, the Democratic nominee for vice president, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, called for expanding the low income housing tax credit as part of a plan to “make housing fair in America.” According to Senator Kaine, the Democratic nominees’ plan will invest tens of billions of dollars to combat the housing problem from several different angles. He states:
Twenty-nine senators, led by Senator Al Franken (D-MN), recently sent a letter to HUD Secretary Julián Castro urging HUD to provide written guidance regarding how local nuisance ordinances may violate the Fair Housing Act and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The letter states, “Nuisance ordinances established by local governments across the nation are penalizing victims for calls requesting police protection or emergency assistance for crimes occurring at their homes.
On Aug. 15, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released its 2016-2017 priority guidance plan and a fourth-quarter update to its 2015-2016 priority guidance plan. Through this plan year, the 12-month period from July 2016 to June 2017, the IRS plans to address 281 projects. Compared to the prior version of the plan, the IRS added issuing guidance on the right of first refusal under Section 42(i)(7).
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) recently introduced legislation that would provide legal protections to ensure access to safe housing for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Building on protections in the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act, the “Fair Housing for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survivors Act of 2016” (S.3164) would establish a nationwide standard that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault cannot be evicted or otherwise penalized solely for being victims of those crimes.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Center for Administrative Records Research and Applications recently released a new working paper titled “The Effect of Low-Income Housing on Neighborhood Mobility: Evidence from Linked Micro-Data.” The paper assesses the impact of LIHTC developments on neighborhood mobility patterns.
U.S. Senate Finance Committee member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently introduced the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2016. This legislation continues the effort to expand the Affordable Housing Tax Credit by 50 percent to help combat the country’s growing affordable housing crisis, and includes major, comprehensive reforms to the program to enable it to better serve the extremely low-income, homeless, rural, and Native American communities.
Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) recently introduced the “Housing for Homeless Students Act” (H.R. 5290), which would allow full-time students who are or recently have been homeless to qualify for housing at tax credit sites. H.R. 5290 would exempt individuals from the student rule if they were homeless at any time in the previous seven years and met the definition of “homeless children and youth” under the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act.
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