State HFAs eager to deploy new housing bill resourcesMortgagePress.comNational Council of State Housing Agencies, Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, HR 3221, Housing Finance Agencies
The National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) applauded
Congress and the Administration today, as the President signed into
law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, HR 3221. The
legislation provides state Housing Finance Agencies (HFAs) and
their industry partners important new tools in their efforts to
stem home foreclosures, stabilize foreclosure rocked neighborhoods,
and finance affordable home mortgages and rental homes.
"State HFAs are ready and eager to put to work the new resources
and authorities Congress and the Administration have entrusted to
them under this landmark legislation," said NCSHA Executive
Director Barbara Thompson. "HFAs will do everything possible to
help struggling homeowners hold on to their homes, while creating
new affordable housing opportunities for others, with the urgently
needed assistance this legislation provides."
Among the legislation's most significant provisions are:
• An $11 billion tax-exempt Housing Bond cap increase,
available in 2008-2010, for the financing of affordable
homeownership and rental homes;
• A 10 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit)
cap increase in 2008 and 2009, for the development of affordable
rental homes;
• Permanent Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) relief for Housing
Bonds and Credits;
• Temporary Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) refinancing
authority; and
• Several provisions affording state HFAs greater discretion
in their administration of the Housing Bond and Credit programs, to
allow these highly effective programs to reach people and places
they now struggle to serve.
"This hard-won legislation contains many provisions NCSHA first
proposed and has persistently pursued for several years," Thompson
said, adding, "But, these provisions would not have happened
without the leadership and support of so many key housing leaders
in Congress, especially House Ways and Means Committee Chairman
Charles Rangel (D-NY), Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney
Frank (D-MA), and Senate Finance Committee member Maria Cantwell
(D-WA), who spearheaded the Housing Credit program changes, and
Senate Finance Committee members John Kerry (D-MA) and Gordon Smith
(R-OR), who led the effort for the new Bond authority. We deeply
appreciate their efforts."
"The really tough work lies ahead," noted Thompson. "State HFAs
must now quickly deploy these new resources in ways that have the
greatest impact on some of the toughest housing challenges our
country has ever faced."
For more information, visit www.ncsha.org.
