President-elect Biden Announces COVID-19 Relief Proposal
This week, President-elect Biden released his $1.9 trillion legislative proposal for a comprehensive COVID-19 relief package, including providing essential resources and protections for workers and low-income renters. This package includes more than $400 billion to respond to COVID-19 and to try to speed up the vaccine rollout; $1 trillion in direct relief to households; $30 billion in emergency rental and utility assistance, and approximately $440 billion for small businesses and communities hit hard by the pandemic.
Specifically, the proposal includes providing $1,400 per person in direct payments to help households cover their expenses. The plan would also expand eligibility to adult dependents who have been left out of the previous rounds of relief and to all mixed households. The Biden proposal would also extend the federal moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions (set to expire at the end of this month) to September 2021. The plan would increase supplemental unemployment insurance to $400 a week from $300 a week and would also be extended to September 2021. The legislation would provide a 15% increase in food assistance and would provide an increase to the Child Tax Credit. The Biden proposal would also bring the federal minimum wage up to $15 an hour.
President-elect Biden told lawmakers there is no time to waste to help struggling Americans and lift millions of people out of poverty. Legislative momentum, however, will likely be slow amid a fraught Senate impeachment trial focused on his predecessor and the pressing need to confirm nominees to lead federal agencies and departments.
President-elect Biden’s Emergency Legislative Package to Fund Vaccinations, Provide Relief to Families and Support Struggling Communities is available HERE.
Industry Groups Hold Additional Discussions on Rental Assistance with Key Agencies and Committee Staff
This week, NAHMA and several national associations that represent for-profit and non-profit owners, developers, managers, housing cooperatives, lenders and housing agencies involved in providing affordable rental and cooperative housing, held a conference call with President-elect Biden’s HUD and Treasury Department transition teams to discuss industry recommendations for implementation of the $25 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program. NAHMA and industry group members had previously sent a joint letter to the Department of Treasury and to the Department of Housing and Urban Development providing recommendations for implementation of the recent COVID-19 relief bill. The letter requests funding be allocated as quickly as possible and outlines the need for a clear and efficient framework for implementation. To view the industry group letter on COID-19 Rental Assistance Implementation, click HERE.
NAHMA and several members of the industry group also held a conference call this week with key Congressional housing staff on COVID-19 and rental assistance. Staff from the House Financial Services Committee and from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee heard updates from affordable housing stakeholders on several issues, including how the $25 billion in rental assistance provided in the Emergency Rental Assistance program provided by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act will be implemented. The conference call also conveyed to Congressional staff the need for additional rental assistance, provided examples of efforts Congress can take to protect renters from losing their homes while also ensuring the owners’ ability to maintain the viability of the rental housing stock, and underscored the most immediate legislative and regulatory priorities for the new 117th Congress.