House and Senate FY 2015 Agriculture, Rural Development Appropriations Bills
This week, the House Appropriations Committee released its FY 2015 Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bills; the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its own Agriculture, Rural Development appropriations bill on May 22 after a markup at the full committee level. During this markup, no amendments relevant to rural housing programs were introduced.
Below is a chart comparing the two bills with the Obama Administration’s Budget request and the FY 2014 enacted level:
|
Section 515 |
Section 52 Rental Assistance |
Section 538 (Loan Level) |
Revitalization and Rural Housing Vouchers |
| Senate Bill S. 2389 |
$28.43 Million |
$1.09 Billion |
$150 Million |
$28 Million / RHVs: $8 Million |
| House Draft Bill |
$28.40 Million |
$1.09 Billion |
$150 Million |
$28 Million / RHVs: $8 Million |
| Budget Request |
$28.43 Million |
$1.09 Billion |
$150 Million |
$28 Million / RHVs: $8 Million |
| FY 2014 Enacted Level |
$28.43 Million |
$1.11 Billion |
$150 Million |
$32.57 Million / RHVs: $12.58 M |
Both of the bill’s Rental Assistance figures are below the FY 2014 enacted level, but lawmakers have stated that both amounts will be sufficient to renew expiring rental assistance contracts in FY 2015. The Senate Appropriations Committee noted that their bill will “allow almost 245,000 very low-income, rural residents to continue to live in affordable rental housing.”
An area of concern for these bills is that the House and Senate have adopted the President’s request to eliminate the automatic renewal of rental assistance contracts that occur within the 12-month contract period. NAHMA’s object under this proposal is that 12-month funding
must be provided so that property contracts are not short-funded. Additionally, NAHMA is concerned about the amount pegged for the Multifamily Revitalization program, which includes funding for Rural Housing Vouchers. The slated $28 million for revitalization, including $8 million for vouchers, is well below the FY 2014 enacted level. In testimony submitted to the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture and Rural Development, NAHMA urged the members to carefully consider whether $8 million will be sufficient to meet the demand for these Rural Housing Vouchers.
On May 22, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its FY 2015 Agriculture, Rural Development funding bill after the markup. It will now advance to the full Senate. The House Appropriations Committee released its counterpart on the 19th, and will hold a markup for the bill on May 29, 2014.
To view the House Agriculture bill for FY 2015, please
click here.
To view the Senate Agriculture bill for FY 2015, please
click here.
House Appropriations Committee Passes FY 2015 T-HUD Bill
On Wednesday, May 21, the House Appropriations Committee passed its FY 2015 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations bill by a recorded vote of 28 to 21. Although the bill provides $52 billion in discretionary spending (increase of $1.2 billion above FY 2014 enacted level), recent reports from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) show that the FHA is approximately $3 billion short of their predicted receipts. Thus the program level within the bill is more accurately $1.8 billion below the FY 2014 enacted level.
During the Markup of this bill on May 21, numerous amendments were introduced but only a few related to housing succeeded and were adopted. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced an amendment which would require HUD to evaluate and report on the effect of voucher portability on administrative costs to PHAs which experience a large number of vouchers transferred from other jurisdictions. This amendment was approved by the Committee.
Representative Schiff also introduced an amendment that would have increased funding for the HOME Investment Partnerships program by $900 million, increasing the funding level to the FY 2014 enacted level. This amendment was withdrawn. Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced an amendment to increase funding for the Community Development Block Grant program to $3.27 billion, an increase of 9% from the FY 2015 T-HUD bill’s current amount. The amendment failed by a recorded vote of 21 to 28.
Representative Mike Quigly (D-IL) introduced an amendment to raise the cap on the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program from 60,000 units to 250,000 units. A similar proposal was included in the Obama Administration’s FY 2015 budget request. However, this amendment was strongly opposed by Tom Latham (R-IA), the chairman of the Appropriations T-HUD Subcommittee. He stated that more information should be collected on the long-term liabilities that would be shifted to Project-Based Section 8 under this proposal. Additionally, he addressed a letter from the House Financial Services Committee’s Ranking Member, Maxine Waters (D-CA), who also opposed the proposal because she believes authorizers have more work to do and the motion would be premature. The amendment was withdrawn.
NAHMA was disappointed to see no attention given to the Project-Based Section 8 account proposal to transfer all contracts to a calendar year model and fund the program with only $9.75 billion ($170 million below FY 2014 enacted level). We will continue to advocate for lawmakers to oppose these provisions, especially with Senate Appropriators who have yet to release their T-HUD bill. NAHMA’s ask to lawmakers is that they instead provide the program with full-funding of 12-month contracts up front at renewal ($11.9 billion), and avoid a calendar year funding cycle for the program.
To view the House T-HUD bill and to watch an archived webcast of the markup, please
click here.
House Bill Seeks to Protect the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
On Thursday, May 22, Ohio Congressman and Ways and Means Committee member Pat Tiberi (R) introduced H.R. 4717, a bill that would to amend the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the minimum 9 percent credit rate for new construction and expand the minimum 4 percent credit rate for acquisition in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.
In a press release, Representative Tiberi stated: “I’ve seen first-hand the benefits of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit during my visits to low-income housing developments in my district. It’s an effective, successful program and by making a permanent floor on the credit rate, we’re creating certainty for developers to create jobs and increase housing availability for more low-income families, veterans, seniors and individuals living with disabilities.”
His office has also noted that this legislation would only affect the amount of tax credits that a housing finance agency may award a particular development and does not affect the overall amount of state allocations of credit, making the expected revenue cost minimal.
The full text for the legislation has not been made available yet, but NAHMA expects it to be similar to S. 1442, the Improving the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Rate Act, which was introduced by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in August of last year. NAHMA supported Cantwell’s legislation and will also support the Tiberi bill. H.R. 4717 has so far gained 24 cosponsors and was co-introduced by Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal (D).
To read the press release for this legislation, please
click here.
