#166 Summer 2011 — 36th Anniversary

Fighting for the Trust Fund

When we reported earlier this year on the often-frustrating saga of finding a legislative home for the as yet unfunded National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) created by the Housing and […]

When we reported earlier this year on the often-frustrating saga of finding a legislative home for the as yet unfunded National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, we were hopeful. Still, considering this Congress, we could have guessed that it would be an uphill battle. Now, with Congressman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) characterizing the NHTF as a “slush fund for special interest housing groups” and saying he plans to introduce a bill to eliminate it, it’s not just uphill, but a battle of priorities and principle.

In late May, Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises (of which Royce is a member) at a hearing titled “Transparency, Transition and Taxpayer Protection: More Steps to End the GSE Bailout.” She argued that the trust fund and its goal of ending the shortage of affordable homes for the lowest-income Americans “is a proper role for government,” adding that the market “will not fill this gap.”

Despite the most recent attack by the likes of Rep. Royce, NLIHC is not just playing defense. In June, Crowley described a plan to generate funding for affordable housing by reforming the mortgage interest deduction, the country’s largest housing subsidy. Speaking at the release of State of the Nation’s Housing: 2011, she argued that changing the MID to a 15 percent credit and lowering the cap from $1 million to $500,000 would not only simplify the tax code, but make available $30 billion to build affordable rental units—all while being deficit neutral. It would also dramatically increase the number of people getting a tax benefit.

OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE

  • Developing Economic, Along with Physical, Health

    March 29, 2016

    Sue Joss and Jason Barbosa might seem to be unlikely economic development partners. She is the veteran CEO of a major nonprofit health care provider in Brockton, Massachusetts, just south […]

  • Bank Fees of a Different Kind

    July 26, 2011

    A proposed bank accountability bill in California that had received considerable national attention has suffered something of a setback, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of it. Assembly […]

  • Housing for Families, Not Just Households

    July 26, 2011

    It’s time to do away with a mortgage-industrial complex that turns “families” into “households” with income earners, credit scores, and debt ratios.