Issues & Initiatives

NLIHC’s mission is to achieve socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.
      
Our goals to meet our mission are: to preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources, to expand the supply of low income housing, and to establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low income housing policy. Our objectives to meet our mission are to change public opinion, increase capacity of low income advocates, and to cause federal policy makers to act.
      
NLIHC’s 2010 Policy Priorities:

National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). Advancing the National Housing Trust Fund remains NLIHC’s highest priority. NLIHC will seek to capitalize the NHTF and continue to seek new funding sources, finalize HUD regulations on the NHTF, and obtain project-based vouchers to go to states to accompany NHTF dollars.
      
Housing Choice Vouchers. To support the units added by the National Housing Trust Fund and otherwise assist the lowest income families in accessing affordable housing, NLIHC will continue to advocate for a significant number of new vouchers. NLIHC will continue our campaign to secure at least 250,000 new vouchers in FY11, and for enactment of the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act.
      
Foreclosure Intervention. NLIHC will monitor compliance of Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act of 2009 and educate the public about this law, protect tenants in private market multifamily properties that are threatened with foreclosure, and support bankruptcy and foreclosure prevention legislation.
     
Preservation of Public and Assisted Housing. NLIHC will support enactment of comprehensive Section 8 project-based and other multi-family housing preservation legislation, to include a mandate for federal agencies to collect and disseminate data and capacity grants to support local data collection; support and promote policies that preserve severely distressed and non-severely distressed public housing stock through administrative and legislative vehicles; and work to ensure renewal of all vouchers in use.
      
Gulf Coast Housing Recovery. NLIHC will support enactment of Gulf Coast Housing Recovery legislation that reflects issues identified by the Katrina Housing Group, which NLIHC coordinates, and we will continue to work to influence the National Disaster Housing Strategy.
      
Budget and Appropriations. NLIHC will work to achieve the best possible HUD budget for FY11, including through the President’s budget, the Congressional budget resolution, and appropriations bills.
      
Housing Plus Services. Work in this broad subject area includes HEARTH Act implementation as well as the enactment of Section 202 and 811 reform bills, Section 3 legislation, and healthy housing legislation.
      
Tax Policy. NLIHC will work to achieve greater equity in federal housing subsidies both along the income spectrum and between homeowners and renters, and will advocate for redirecting these savings to fund NHTF and Housing Choice Vouchers.
  
Low Income Housing Tax Credits. NLIHC will support efforts to help the LIHTC program rebound, with a focus on continuing the exchange program for 2010 and on support for a policy revision that would require 25% of LIHTCs to be used for housing affordable for extremely low income households.
     
Definition of Affordability and Income. NLIHC will monitor and inform proposals to redefine the federal poverty level to assure consideration of housing costs. NLIHC will also monitor and inform any changes to Fair Market Rents and income limits.
      
Planning for Livable Communities. NLIHC will advocate for improvements to the Livable Communities Act/Sustainable Communities Initiative and will seek reform of federally required planning processes, including the Consolidated Plan and the duty to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, to achieve greater inter-departmental coordination.
     
Housing Funding from Other Sources. NLIHC will seek ways to maximize resources for affordable housing for extremely low income households through the capital magnet fund, climate change legislation, energy retrofit legislation, Community Reinvestment Act legislation, and the transportation bill, as well as other potential resources.