Legislative & Policy

The bipartisan Congressional Public Housing Caucus, is still seeking new Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to join the Caucus. 

CLPHA conceived and helped establish the Caucus and we remain strongly committed to building its membership. The goal of the Caucus is to connect Members of Congress and their staff with key stakeholders of public and affordable housing, as well as educate them on the latest policy developments. 

ACTION:

We need your help in promoting the Caucus to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Please reach out to your Representatives and encourage them to join the bipartisan Congressional Public Housing Caucus.  

To join, Members of Congress should contact Mark Gilbride of Rep. Stivers’ staff (225-2015; mark.gilbride@mail.house.gov) or Jennifer Shapiro of Rep. Cleaver's staff (225-4535; jennifer.shapiro@mail.house.gov). 

Congress is due to return to Washington, D.C., on November 13, one week after the 2018 mid-term elections. In addition to Senate consideration of judicial and administration nominees, and the expected finalizing of FY2019 funding for departments and agencies currently operating under a continuing resolution, a strong possibility exists that Congress will consider tax extension legislation. This presents a new window of opportunity for CLPHA members to advocate for two tax credit provisions that are very important to the preservation and development of public and affordable housing: the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act and the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act.  

Tax Extenders

According to the ACTION Campaign—CLPHA is a member of its Steering Committee—House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) has indicated that House tax leaders are speaking with their Senate counterparts about tax extenders legislation that Congress could consider during the lame duck session. This is significant since Senate leadership had earlier revealed interest in taking up tax extenders this year, while House leadership was previously unclear.

The ACTION Campaign asserts, “Should tax extenders advance as part of larger tax legislation this fall, which may also include technical provisions and other tax provisions, it may present an opportunity to advance provisions from the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (S. 548/H.R. 1661). To position the Housing Credit as strongly as possible going into any potential negotiations in the lame duck session, ACTION encourages all stakeholders to continue conducting outreach to your elected officials to both urge them to sign on if they haven't already, and thank current co-sponsors for their continued support.” The ACTION Campaign also developed a website with advocacy materials for meeting with elected officials, including state and district level fact sheets along with other materials. 

New Markets Tax Credit

In addition to the Housing Credit legislation, Reps. Steve Stivers (R-OH) and José Serrano (D-NY) are asking colleagues to join them on a Dear Colleague letter urging Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to include a permanent extension of the New Markets Tax Credit Program in any tax legislation considered during the lame duck session. H.R. 1098, the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act, which would prevent the expiration of a tax credit that draws investment to low-income communities, has already garnered 102 bi-partisan co-sponsors. The deadline for House members to sign onto the letter is November 9.

ACTION:

1. CLPHA strongly encourages members to contact your Senators and Representatives and urge them to sign-on to H.R. 1661 in the House and S.548 in the Senate, if they have not already added their name to the list of co-sponsors. Here is a list of current House and Senate co-sponsors.
2. When asking your Members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1661 or S. 548, also ask them to support adding provisions from the legislation to any tax extender legislation during the lame duck session.
3. Ask your House members to sign onto the Dear Colleague letter urging H.R. 1098 be included in any tax legislation during the lame duck session.

Last week, members of the House and Senate were named to an appropriations conference committee on HR 6157, the third package of FY19 appropriations bills. This third “minibus” includes funding for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government; Agriculture; Rural Development; Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. The committee conferees will hold their first formal meeting on Thursday, September 13.

Committee staff from the House and Senate majority and minority—the four corners—have been in informal discussions over the summer striving to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the several subcommittee bills included in the minibus. Having the conferees meet signifies real progress has been made towards a final agreement.

Despite six scheduled legislative days remaining before the end of the fiscal year, conference committee action on the third minibus suggests there is a real possibility the FY19 THUD appropriations may be enacted before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. This would enable THUD appropriations to avoid becoming victim to a continuing resolution (CR) for funding. Any CR is expected to last at least until after the November elections for those federal agencies missing the September 30 deadline.

Members of the Conference Committee include:

House of Representatives

Senate

ACTION:

We strongly encourage CLPHA members to communicate with the Washington, DC offices of the conferees before 1:00 pm tomorrow, September 13, especially CLPHA members whose congressional members are on the conference committee, and urge them to:

1. Support the higher Senate funding levels for public housing-related programs,
2. Oppose any poison pill provisions, such as the Heller amendment, and 
3. Support the HCV Mobility Demonstration provision in the House THUD bill.