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National Issues
NPH’s list of national issues remains unchanged although the threats have transformed from legislative battles to administrative efforts.
Defend HUD Budget: Large proposed cuts to the HUD budget appear to have been beaten back, but housing and community development suffer from the damage of dozens of smaller wounds. The Bush Administration continues to focus on remaking the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program into an exclusively economic development program. Interestingly rumors out of Sacramento include word that the Schwarzenegger Administration may be interested in a similar effort. In the morale-draining world in which housing seems to inhabit, each victory in Congress is followed by a renewed effort to carry out the same goal administratively. As an example, although Congress is poised to fund Housing Choice Vouchers at approximately the level need to retain most vouchers, the Administration continues to press forward with procedural efforts that reduce Fair Market Rents in high-cost markets such as the East Bay and Silicon Valley.
The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF): NPH continues to push for a renewed federal investment in housing---particularly for very-low income households—but the chances are bleak. The latest, greatest hope was the Government-Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) reform bills. Failure of the Senate and House to agree on the overall measure appears to have doomed a very weak proposal for an affordable housing fund. The proposed fund would have required Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to dedicate a paltry $500 million annually to affordable housing.
National Housing Trust Fund Discharge Petition
The National Housing Trust Fund Campaign is working to establish a permanent fund that would help build and preserve 1.5 million units of rental housing for the lowest income families over the next 10 years.
The campaign currently has over 5,400 endorsers and a New York Times Editorial recently endorsed the Housing Trust Fund. For more information, visit www.nhtf.org.
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