Housing

Help Secure $1 Billion for the National Housing Trust Fund

FMI and the Wheaton Franciscans have been supporting and following the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) legislation for many years. (In fact, in 2001, I was privileged to attend the NHTF Conference in DC and participated in a legislative action on Capitol Hill.)   The NHTF was authorized in Congress last year, but has not yet been funded. Now there is new legislation in the House and Senate that will fund the NHTF, which will in turn fund development of housing for people with very low incomes.

The Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) has given great assistance to banks and other financial institutions in support of homeowners.  However, little has been done to respond to the moral mandate to provide for people in greatest need of housing.  This legislation would allow funds from the TARP to be applied to the NHTF. 

Ask your representative in the House to cosponsor H.R. 3766, the "Main Street TARP Act", and ask your senators to cosponsor S. 1731, the "Preserving Homes and Communities Act".

Go to http://capwiz.com/networklobby/issues/alert/?alertid=14174421&type=CO to send a message to your senators.

Go to http://capwiz.com/networklobby/issues/alert/?alertid=14174466&type=CO to send a message to your representative.

The White House offered its support to the issue of affordable housing last week. 

Administration Calls on Congress to Address Housing Needs

On October 29, two key members of the Obama Administration called on Congress to approve three important measures to improve the nation's housing market. A statement from Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary, urged Congress to extend the first time homebuyer tax credit, extend higher loan limits for home mortgages, and secure funding for the housing trust fund. They stressed in the statement that the Administration fully supports an extension of the homebuyer credit and urged Congress to include additional steps to combat tax fraud including setting a minimum age for home purchase and requiring documentary proof of purchase to receive the credit. The secretaries also offered strong support for the National Housing Trust Fund and announced that the Administration will actively work with Congress to identify a specific source of funding to guarantee that the program will receive the $1 billion as outlined in the President's FY 2010 budget request.