NAAHL Applauds Senate Banking Committee Bipartisan Housing and Community Development Package
Last night, Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren released a sweeping bipartisan housing and community development package to expand housing supply and address the affordable housing crisis. The Committee is scheduled to mark up the package on Tuesday, July 29 at 10:00 a.m.
NAAHL applauds Chair Scott, Ranking Member Warren, and all members of the Banking Committee for their commitment to addressing our nation’s affordable housing crisis and their collaboration on this bipartisan housing package. NAAHL has endorsed a number of proposals within the package and is continuing to review many of the new policy proposals put forward by the Committee.
The ROAD to Housing package includes a number of bipartisan proposals from Banking Committee members that will expand and preserve housing of all types, streamline building processes, increase innovation in housing construction, and provide opportunities for increased investment in affordable housing.
If enacted, the ROAD to Housing Act will increase investments and remove unnecessary barriers to development to boost housing supply and bring down housing costs for American families in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
As the Senate takes up this bipartisan package, we encourage Congress to pair these vital improvements with other bipartisan housing tools, specifically the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act and provisions of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act to help expand affordable housing in rural communities, to incentivize more private investment in affordable housing supply.
Click here for the full text of the ROAD to Housing Act.
Click here for the Committee’s section-by-section summary the package.
ROAD to Housing Act
Title 1 – Improving Financial Literacy
Sec. 101 – Reforms to Housing Counseling and Financial Literacy Programs
o Allows HUD to review the performance of housing counseling agencies and housing counselors, and to require additional training and opportunities to demonstrate improvement.
o If counselors are found to be consistently out of compliance, counselors may lose their certification and counseling agencies may lose HUD funding.
Title 2 – Building More in America
Sec. 201 – Rental Assistance Demonstration Program
o Lifts the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD) cap and codifies certain tenant protections in the RAD program.
Sec. 202 – Increasing Housing in Opportunity Zones
o Allows the HUD Secretary to give addition weight to grant applicants in opportunity zones.
Sec. 203 – Housing Supply Frameworks Act
o Requires HUD to publish guidance and best practices for state and local zoning to support production of adequate housing to meet the needs of communities and provide housing opportunities for individuals in the community at every income level.
Sec. 204 – Whole-Home Repairs Act
o Directs HUD to establish a pilot program to make competitive grants to states and local governments to fund grants and forgivable loans for repairs to address health and safety issues, energy efficiency, weatherization, or other repair needs on homes for low-income homeowners and rental properties owned by small landlords primarily operating units affordable to low-income renters.
Sec. 205 – Community Investment and Prosperity Act
o Increases the Public Welfare Investment (PWI) cap for banks regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve from 15% to 20%, allowing banks to increase their investments in affordable housing.
Sec. 206 – Build Now Act
o Incentivizes housing development in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) participating jurisdictions (other than states) by increasing or decreasing their CDBG funding levels based on whether they are increasing their housing growth.
Sec. 207 – Better Use of Intergovernmental and Local Development Housing Act
o Gives HUD the ability to delegate and coordinate National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) reviews and gives HUD more flexibility in the review process.
Sec. 208 – Unlocking Housing Supply Through Streamlined and Modernized Reviews Act
o Modernizes the NEPA review process for HUD-funded projects to allow certain projects to be subject to more tailored environmental reviews, allows funding recipients to do critical repairs faster by streamlining review requirements, and streamlines reviews for infill development and revitalization of existing homes and buildings.
Sec. 209 – Innovation Fund
o Establishes a highly flexible, competitive grant program for localities that have increased their housing supply, where grant funds can be used for housing, community development, certain transportation, and certain water projects, as well as other activities to help expand housing supply.
Sec. 210 – Accelerating Home Building Act
o Establishes a HUD grant program to help communities establish pre-approved housing designs, or pattern books, to streamline and expedite local construction processes and build more homes.
Sec. 211 – Build More Housing Near Transit Act
o Requires the Secretary of Transportation to include a scoring boost to public transit funding applications that include regulatory reforms to facilitate more housing near transit locations.
Sec. 212 – Revitalizing Empty Structures into Desirable Environments (RESIDE) Act
o Creates a competitive grant program within the HOME program, when HOME appropriations exceed $1.35 billion, to convert vacant and abandoned buildings into attainable housing.
Sec. 213 – Housing Affordability Act
o Directs FHA to study multifamily loan limits and grants HUD rulemaking authority to adjust multifamily limits to better match market housing costs and enhance affordability.
Title 3 – Manufactured Housing for America
Sec. 301 – Housing Supply Expansion Act
o Updates the definition of manufactured housing to remove the permanent chassis, expanding the definition of manufactured housing to include modular and prefabricated units.
Sec. 302 – Modular Housing Production Act
o Requires HUD to assess barriers to FHA-insured lending for modular housing and directs the HUD Secretary to modify the financing draw schedule to encourage modular housing construction.
Sec. 303 – Property Improvement and Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act
o Updates FHA Title I program to allow for financing of accessory dwelling units and increase the loan thresholds for home repair lending and manufactured home loans.
Sec. 304 – PRICE Act
o Authorizes HUD’s Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) program to provide grants to maintain, protect, and stabilize manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities.
Title 4 – Accessing the American Dream
Sec 401 – Creating Incentives for Small Dollar Loan Originators
o Requires the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue a report on the effects of various factors of loan originator compensation on the availability of small dollar loans.
Sec. 402 – Small Dollar Mortgage Points and Fees
o Requires CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to evaluate the impact of existing regulations that limit the points and fees that lenders can charge on qualified mortgage loans and, based on the evaluation, directs CFPB to make any necessary regulatory changes to encourage additional small dollar mortgages.
Sec. 403 – Appraisal Industry Improvement Act
o Makes changes to appraiser requirements to help bolster the appraisal workforce, including by allowing both licensed and credentialed appraisers to conduct appraisals for FHA-insured mortgage lending.
Sec. 404 – Helping More Families Save Act
o Establishes a pilot program to automatically enroll families in HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program and removing other barriers to enrollment.
Sec. 405 – Choice in Affordable Housing Act
o Updates requirements in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program to reduce HUD inspection delays by allowing units that are financed through other federal housing programs to automatically satisfy voucher inspection requirements if inspected within the past year, and permits landlords to request pre-inspections in order to increase access to housing for voucher holders and encourage landlord participation.
Title 5 – Program Reform
Sec. 501 – Reforming Disaster Recovery Act
o Permanently authorizes the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.
o Establishes an Office of Disaster Management and Resiliency within HUD to administer the CDBG-DR program.
Sec. 502 – HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization Act
o Reauthorizes the HOME program and makes changes to improve program administration and facilitate construction of more affordable housing.
Sec. 503 – Rural Housing Service Reform Act
o Enacts reforms to Rural Housing Service programs, including allowing decoupling of rental assistance from maturing USDA mortgages to preserve affordable housing in rural areas.
Sec. 504 – New Moving to Work Cohort
o Authorizes a new Economic Opportunity and Pathways to Independence Moving to Work cohort.
Sec. 505 – Reducing Homelessness through Program Reform Act
o Enacts reforms to homelessness programs and in the Housing Choice Voucher program to help reduce homelessness nationwide.
Sec. 506 – Incentivizing Local Solutions to Homelessness
o Allows states and localities receiving Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding to request a waiver of the statutory 60% spending cap on emergency shelter beds and street outreach.
Title 6 – Veterans and Housing
Sec. 601 – VA Home Loan Awareness Act
o Requires the GSEs to update the Uniform Residential Loan Application to include notice that a military servicemember or veteran may be eligible for a VA loan.
Sec. 602 – Veterans Affairs Loan Informed Disclosure (VALID) Act
o Requires FHA mortgage disclosures to include a cost comparison to VA loans, in addition to conventional loans, for veterans and servicemembers to make veterans aware of their home loan benefit and to help them compare those options to FHA financing.
Sec. 603 – Housing Unhoused Disabled Veterans Act
o Permanently excludes veterans’ disability compensation from annual income calculations under the HUD-VASH program.
Title 7 – Oversight and Accountability
Sec. 701 – Requiring Annual Testimony and Oversight from Housing Regulators
o Requires annual testimony on housing and community development issues from the heads of HUD, FHA, Ginnie Mae, USDA’s Rural Housing Service, FHFA, and VA’s Loan Guaranty Service.
Sec. 702 – FHA Reporting Requirements on Safety and Soundness
o Requires HUD to report monthly to Congress on the state of the statutorily required capital ratio of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, including a notice to Congress any time that the ratio falls below the statutorily required level.
Sec. 703 – United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Oversight
o Requires USICH to provide an update on the status of the plan to reduce homelessness in its annual planning process and requires annual USICH testimony before Congress.
Sec. 704 – NeighborWorks Accountability Act
o Establishes a NeighborWorks Office of Inspector General.
Sec. 705 – Appraisal Modernization Act
o Requires mortgage lenders to maintain procedures to allow for consumer-initiated requests for reconsiderations of value when they believe there may be an issue with their appraised home value.
Title 8 – Coordination, Studies, & Reporting
Sec. 801 – HUD-USDA-VA Interagency Coordination Act
o Directs HUD, USDA, and VA to identify areas for collaboration to streamline and improve housing program implementation.
Sec. 802 – Streamlining Rural Housing Act
o Directs HUD and USDA to coordinate on joint environmental review for housing projects funded by both agencies.
Sec. 803 – Improving Self-Sufficiency of Families in HUD-Subsidized Housing
o Directs HUD to conduct a study on the implementation of work requirements by public housing agencies.