The 114th Congress was sworn in On Tuesday, January 6, and legislators began work on unfinished business left over from the previous session. Progress had stalled in the 113th Congress on tax reform, housing finance reform and a replacement for harsh budget cuts mandated under the Budget Control Act of 2011, and it is hard to predict when or how these issues will completed. While these major issues remain unresolved, lawmakers’ current priorities include the Keystone XL pipeline and the President’s health care law.
As a first order of business, the House of Representatives held an election for the Speaker of the House position. Representative John Boehner (R-OH) has been reconfirmed as the Speaker for a third term with 216 votes in his favor. In the Senate, the final roster for committee chair positions has been released by Republicans, though these positions are still the subject of a vote by the members of each respective panel and they must then be ratified by the Republican Conference. The subcommittee assignments will then be decided by the chair of each committee. Meanwhile, Democrats in the House and Senate are still completing their committee assignments.
NAHMA hopes that the 114th Congress will be able to resolve the outstanding issues that were unfinished from 2012-2014. Aside from challenging reforms for tax policies and housing finance, lawmakers must find a replacement for the automatic budget cuts cause by sequestration and the debt-ceiling will be reached in March of this year. It is our hope that the partisan standoffs and gridlock that plagued the 113th Congress may be put aside to complete the tasks at hand.
NAHMA will issue a NAHMAnalysis on the committee and subcommittee assignments when they are released this month. Going forward, NAHMA will also reach out to the new committee leaders to open dialogue on the critical challenges facing affordable housing providers and the low-income tenants living in their properties.
Senate Appropriations Committee Announces Subcommittee Ranking Members
Today, the former Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), announced the Ranking Member positions for the various subcommittees overseen by the committee at large. The Ranking Member positions for the subcommittees with oversight over affordable housing programs are as follows:
Agriculture Subcommittee Ranking Member: Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee (T-HUD): Jack Reed (D-RI)
The Republican Chairs for these subcommittees have not been announced, but it is likely that Senator Susan Collins (ME) will become the Chair for the T-HUD Subcommittee; she previously served as the Ranking Member for this subcommittee. For the Agriculture Subcommittee, which has oversight of Rural Development programs, Jerry Moran of Kansas is the predicted front-runner. These Subcommittees are critical because they are responsible for drafting the appropriations figures for HUD and Rural Development housing programs.
Senator Mikulski will also switch roles with Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and become the Ranking Member for the Appropriations Committee at large. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) will become the Chairman, a position he held previously from 2005-2007.
To view Senator Mikulski’s press release, please click here
Representative Waters Joins Amicus Brief on Disparate Impact
Today Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) signed on to an amicus brief in support of the disparate impact standard, which is currently under review in the Supreme Court case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al. v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. Representative Waters joins 23 other current and former members of Congress who signed on to this brief in support of disparate impact.
This case challenges the theory that some housing or lending practices can illegally harm minority groups even when there is no proof of intent to discriminate. The concept has been previously argued in employment discrimination cases, however there has been no official ruling by the Supreme Court if Disparate Impact claims are justified under the Fair Housing Act. The Supreme Court was set to debate the issue twice but both of these cases were settled out of court before oral arguments began in 2012 and 2013.
In a press release on this amicus brief, Representative Waters stated “Although the Supreme Court has never weighed in on this particular issue, every one of the eleven federal circuits that examined it has held that the disparate impact standard does in fact apply under the Fair Housing Act. Further, each of the relevant regulatory agencies has long held the same position, remaining unchanged through Republican and Democratic administrations alike.”
NAHMA and other industry groups have also weighed in on this disparate impact case in an effort to finally resolve the disparate impact concept as it relates to the Fair Housing Act. In an amicus brief signed by NAHMA, we argued that disparate impact theory presents unique problems in a housing context that make it inappropriate as a basis for liability and that it improperly extends the scope of the Fair Housing Act. The plain language of the Act prohibits only intentional acts of housing discrimination and by ignoring this intent requirement, disparate impact liability creates de facto protected classes that Congress does not allow.
The Supreme Court will likely begin to hear arguments in the case Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, et al. v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. this summer. NAHMA will continue to follow the case’s progress and will alert members when a hearing is scheduled.
To read Representative Waters’ remarks, please click here
To view the brief she and other members of Congress signed, please click here
Legislation for Triennial Income Verification
On Thursday, January 8, Representative Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) introduced H.R. 233, a bill which would allow income reviews for certain families to be completed every 3 years rather than the current annual inspection required determining assisted housing program eligibility.
Representative Perlmutter had previously introduced this legislation on December 6 in the 113th Congress as a bill entitled the Tenant Income Verification Relief Act of 2014 (H.R. 5776). The Congressman had stated then that this legislation will help streamline and reduce the burdens placed on tenants for purposes of determining their eligibility and it will “help lighten the regulatory requirements placed on housing authorities and their tenants while still ensuring accountability.”
In the past, NAHMA has supported similar proposals that would reduce the burden of income certifications for property owners, tenants and housing authorities. For example, NAHMA supported provisions in the unpassed Affordable Housing and Self-Sufficiency Improvement Act (AHSSIA) of 2012 which would have similarly reduced income certification to once every three years. Most recently, NAHMA explored reducing or eliminating income-driven interim recertifications as part of our Alternative Futures Working Group policy proposals. This policy proposal examined the cost savings provided by eliminating interims for mid-year increases in income or for income increases at various thresholds. You can read the report and budget scoring here.
NAHMA will review this legislation in consultation with our Federal Affairs Committee.