NLIHC’s Sheila Crowley testifies on funding for National Housing Trust Fund

Washington, DC - July 10, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) — National Low Income Housing Coalition President Sheila Crowley testified before the House Financial Services Committee on July 9 in support of newly introduced legislation that would provide funding for the National Housing Trust Fund for fiscal year 2010.

The National Housing Trust Fund was signed into law in July 2008 but has not yet received funding. Once funded, the housing trust fund will provide communities across the country with funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes that are affordable for extremely and very low income households.

A bill introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), the TARP for Main Street Act of 2009 (H.R. 3068), would designate $1 billion to the National Housing Trust Fund from dividends paid by financial institutions that received TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds.

TARP allocated $700 billion in taxpayer dollars to prevent the failure of major private, for-profit institutions caught up in the mortgage crisis. According to the GAO, by June 12, 2009, the Treasury Department had received approximately $6.2 billion in dividend payments from financial and other institutions that received TARP funds.

Ms. Crowley testified that the National Housing Trust Fund is needed now more than ever. She noted that earlier this year when the unemployment rate was expected to reach 9%, 800,000 new people a year were predicted to become homeless. Unemployment has now exceeded 9% and shows no signs of letting up.

“In the absence of new resources that will expand the supply of homes that people who are elderly, disabled, employed in the low wage work force, or out of work all together can afford, we will see a growth in homelessness that rivals the recession of the early 1980s,” Ms Crowley said. “We made the mistake back then of thinking it was a temporary problem that could be addressed by providing temporary shelter, instead of providing permanent housing. We know better now and should not repeat the same mistake.”

The TARP for Main Street Act would also provide a third round of funding for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, funds for mortgage relief for homeowners who have lost their jobs, and funds to stabilize troubled or foreclosed multifamily properties.

Other witnesses at the hearing included: William C. Apgar, Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Mortgage Finance, HUD; Gary Engel, Director, Financial Management and Assurance, GAO; Frank Apeseche, CEO, Berkshire Property Advisors and the Berkshire Group on behalf of the National Multi Housing Council; Mark Calabria, Director, Financial Regulation Studies, Cato Institute; Brian Hudson, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency; Damon Silver, Associate General Counsel, AFL-CIO; and Chris Warren, Chief of Regional Development, City of Cleveland, Office of the Mayor.

The National Housing Trust Fund is the first federal rental housing production program that is specifically targeted to extremely low income households since the Section 8 program was established in 1974.

Crowley’s full testimony is available at: http://www.nlihc.org/doc/Testimony-Sheila-Crowley-7-9-09.pdf

Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes

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National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)
727 15th Street NW, 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005
202/662-1530; Fax 202/393-1973; ; www.nlihc.org