Rep. Marcia Fudge Nominated for HUD Secretary
The National Affordable Housing Management Association congratulates Representative Marcia Fudge on her nomination by President-Elect Joe Biden to serve as the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development. As a longtime champion of affordable housing and community development, we know she will do an outstanding job serving the American people. We are grateful to have her considerable talents and knowledge to help guide HUD as our nation pulls through the COVID-19 pandemic that has devastated the housing market. We wish Rep. Fudge much success in leading HUD during this unprecedented time and look forward to advance our shared goals of providing decent, safe, and affordable housing to all Americans and improving the lives of residents.
To view her biography and official nomination by the Biden-Harris Transition Team, click here.
No COVID-19 Relief Deal as Congress Passes One-Week Continuing Resolution
Congress is currently negotiating two different COVID-19 relief proposals in the hopes of reaching agreement before the end of the year. A bipartisan $908 billion COVID-19 relief proposal would include $25 billion in rental assistance (through the Coronavirus Relief Fund), $300 in additional unemployment benefits for four months, and would provide an eviction moratorium until end of January 2021. The alternative White House supported $916 proposal has three key differences; it includes a one-time $600 stimulus payment for individuals, it excludes the $300 per week in supplemental unemployment benefits, and it does not contain an eviction moratorium.
These are the most recent pandemic proposals to surface as Congress and the Trump administration work to negotiate a COVID-19 relief package by the end of the year. The best chance of relief legislation being passed is in conjunction with an end of year government funding deal, which Congressional leadership is still working to finalize. To provide lawmakers with more time, the House passed a one-week continuing resolution on Wednesday that would fund the government through December 18th. The Senate followed suit two days later, passing the one-week funding bill this afternoon. President Trump is expected to sign the extension as Congressional negotiators try to finalize funding for the rest of the fiscal year.
House Financial Services Chairwoman Waters Provides Recommendations to President-Elect Biden
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, sent a letter to President-Elect Joseph Biden, providing recommendations on areas where the Biden Administration should immediately reverse the actions of the Trump Administration, and several actions that the Biden Administration can immediately take to coordinate the federal response to COVID-19 while keeping people safely housed. Included with the letter is a list of housing and housing finance regulations and other executive actions taken by the Trump Administration over the past four years within the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Financial Services that the Biden Administration should reverse.
Specifically, the letter requests that HUD and the FHA provide more program waivers to public housing agencies (PHAs) and owners/managers of HUD-assisted multifamily properties to use at their discretion. Additionally, the letter requests that HUD set the minimum rent at $0 and implement a uniform, interim recertification rule that requires PHAs and owners to presume that a tenant’s inability to pay rent has been caused by a loss of income, and as a result would be required to conduct an income recertification. To help people find housing where they can shelter in place during the pandemic, HUD is recommended to also require that PHAs and owners lift their tenant screening requirements when adding family members to a household and automatically extend the search period for vouchers to give families more time to find a landlord willing to rent an apartment to them. Finally, the letter calls for the extension of the eviction moratorium.
To view the full letter from Chairwoman Waters, click here.
For a full list of regulations and other executive actions taken over the past four years within the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Financial Services that request to be reversed, click here.