Advocates of Fair Housing Brace for a Tough Four Years

January 27, 2017       By: Zoe Greenberg

Housing Rights organizations in the New York region are bracing for a new era in the White House, one in which they fear housing equality will be neglected or even rolled back by a president who was sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination in housing in the 1970s.

Riki Blanco

The private nonprofit organizations responsible for investigating and bringing many of the state's fair housing cases are concerned there will be not only drastic cuts in federal funding but also changes to federal guidelines, potentially allowing local communities and landlords to discriminate without much consequence....Read More

Affordable Housing Efforts Should Focus More on Middle-Income Families, Developers and Experts Say

January 26, 2017     By:  Jon Banister, DC

As the need for more affordable housing remains a top concern of DC officials, those responsible for building and financing affordable housing say more of an effort should be made to help the city's working poor, who find themselves shut out of the middle class. They worry President Donald Trump's policies could make it more difficult for this population to afford housing.

Courtesy: Menkiti Group

Bo Menkiti poses with Mayor Muriel Bowser at a 2016 ribbon-cutting

Mayor Muriel Bowser has placed a focus on affordable housing, pledging $100M annually to tackling the crisis, but some say it is not enough....Read More

Uncertainty Over Tax Reform Is Already Hurting Affordable Housing

January 27, 2017    By: Kriston Capps

Awaiting action from Congress, investors are hitting the pause button on developments that use tax credits to create affordable housing.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) field

Questions during a news conference at the GOP congressional retreat in Philadelphia on January 26. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Tax reform will come quickly under the 115th Congress. The next steps lawmakers take will have a profound effect on the affordable housing crisis. By the time legislators break for recess in August, they may have significantly reshaped, and possibly scaled back, the hundreds of billions of dollars in housing aid and tax relief authorized by the federal government.

The housing market isn’t waiting for a sign from Congress about what action Republicans will take in revamping the tax code. Anticipating lower corporate tax rates, some investors are already limiting their investments in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the federal government’s primary instrument for creating new affordable housing in the U.S....Read More

House Bill Would Curb Open Data on Race, Affordable Housing

February 2, 2017                By:  Eleanor Lamb

Open data supporters have expressed trepidation over a new House bill that states Federal agencies will no longer be able to use geospatial information to create open databases on racial disparities and affordable housing.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

                                           

HR 482, or the Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017, moved to the House Committee on Financial Services on Jan. 12. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, sponsored the bill, which would render Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) ineffective. AFFH, a 2015 ruling of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), requires certain HUD grantees to conduct an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) planning process....Read More

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