• About Us
  • Mission and Goals
  • Staff
  • Board
  • History
  • Annual Reports
  • Policy Commitees
  • Jobs & Internships
  • Donate
    • CFC Donations
  • Donors
  • Renew Your Membership or Join Today
  • Looking for Housing?
• Issues & Initiatives
  • National Housing Trust Fund
  • Foreclosure Intervention
    • Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure
  • Preservation Initiatives
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Federal Budget & Approps
  • Housing Plus Services
  • Federal Housing Programs
    • Housing Related Issues
    • Other Housing Programs
  • Testimony & Comments
  • Calls to Action
  • NLIHC Fact Sheets
• Research & Publications
  • Memo to Members
  • Out of Reach
  • 2010 Advocates' Guide
  • Research
  • Congressional District Profiles
  • Publications Order Form
• Press
  • Press Releases
  • Press Contact
  • NLIHC Media Awards
    • NLIHC Media Awards Previous Winners
  • State and Local Organizing Award 2010
• State Resources
  • State Partners & State Level Information
  • States Internet Research Repository
  • Contact Elected Officials
  • States' Upcoming Events
  • NLIHC Outreach Team

Affordable Housing Fund Included in Newly Introduced Hurricane Recovery Bill

On February 16, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced S. 2319, the Hurricane Recovery Act of 2006. The bill includes, among other things, language that would establish an Affordable Housing Fund with a percentage of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s profits.

The bill includes ten titles, responding to needs created by the 2005 hurricanes in the areas of health, housing and community rebuilding, financial services, small business, higher education, tax breaks and incentives, as well as recommendations for improving transparency and accountability during the recovery and relief and future evacuations of individuals with special needs.

Within the Housing and Community Rebuilding Title is a section that would, similar to H.R. 1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005, establish an Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) from a percentage of the profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE). The funds would be used for the production, preservation and rehabilitation of rental housing and homeownership, for extremely-low and very-low income families.

Unlike the AHF in H.R. 1461 that passed the House floor on October 26 (see Memo, 10/28), S. 2319 does not include any restrictive anti-voting provisions. Other compromises made to appease the Republican Study Committee included in the final House bill, such as a five year sunsetting of the AHF, a requirement that 25% of the fund be used to satisfy part of the existing Treasury obligation to pay interest on REFCorp bonds, and a prohibition against allowing funds awarded to a nonprofit entity to be redistributed to other nonprofit entities, are not included in Senator Obama’s bill.

Other sections of the Housing and Community Rebuilding Title would authorize: $100 million for the Public Housing Emergency/Disasters Grants program, as well as require that any remaining unobligated funds from the program’s 2003-2005 appropriations remain available until expended; an additional $250 million for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) assistance to be used for disaster relief, long term recovery and mitigation in Gulf Coast states; $10 million for fair housing enforcement; $10 million for housing counseling for families in temporary shelters; and $10 million for the CDBG Loan Guarantee Program in Gulf Coast states. The bill would also prohibit the placement of families in substandard dwelling units; require the HUD Secretary to ensure that at least 20% of units in the gulf states receiving HOME program funds be made affordable to households with incomes below the poverty line.

S. 2319 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance.