HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE COMPLETES MARK-UP OF THE AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP ACT

The House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity approved H.R. 3899, The American Homeownership Act, on August 6 on a vote of 17 to 0. The legislation contains numerous provisions aimed at increasing homeownership across the country (see July 31 issue of the Washington Report). The following amendments were approved during the mark-up of the bill:

• An amendment which increases the volume cap on the home equity conversion mortgage program from $5 billion to $12 billion.



• An amendment to extend the allowable term for loans insured by financial institutions for the purchase of manufactured housing lots, from 15 years and 32 days to 20 years and 32 days.



• An amendment which requires the HUD Secretary to conduct research, testing, development and training to: (1) encourage GSEs to develop and implement secondary market securitization programs for FHA manufactured home loans, and (2) review the programs for FHA manufactured home loans and promote affordability of manufactured homes.



• An amendment which creates a Single Family Rehabilitation demonstration program and authorizes HUD to select 15 demonstration areas: 7 in urban areas, 5 in metropolitan/suburban areas, and 3 in rural areas.



• The subcommittee defeated amendments by Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL) to eliminate Section 502 and Section 602 from the bill language. Section 502 provides the HUD Secretary with the ability to increase income ceiling limits in high cost areas under the HOME program. Section 602 provides the HUD Secretary with the ability to raise or lower the income eligibility for CDBG.



• Rep. Lazio (R-NY), sponsor of the legislation, is likely to move the bill to the floor as part of the suspension calendar (an expedited floor process reserved for non-controversial bills).

EMPOWERMENT ZONE FUNDING DEPENDS THE PASSAGE OF A TAX BILL

If Empowerment Zone grant funding is to happen this year it will need to be attached to a tax bill. The proposed grant funding ($1.7 billion) for the 20 new Empowerment Zones is contained in Title XX, of Social Services Block Grant program under the Department of Health and Human Services, which is under the jurisdiction of the Senate and House tax committees. This proposed mandatory spending vehicle would alleviate the need for an annual appropriation in each of the ten years of the original act -- the Tax Payer Relief Act of 1997 which authorized designation of the twenty new Empowerment Zones, fifteen urban and five rural, by January 1999. This act provided for tax incentives, but no flexible grant funding necessary to develop a comprehensive approach to redevelopment efforts.

There are quite a few Empowerment Zone grant bills out there, and at least one tax extender bill that could get the new zones funded. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit extender bill is a good vehicle to attach a grant bill to, due to the likelihood of its passage without much controversy.

The grant bills are another story, because there are only a couple that would be most beneficial to NCDA members.

On the Senate side, Senators James M. Jeffords (R-VT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have introduced S 2418, "The Rural Opportunity Communities Act of 1998." Senator Carol Mosely-Braun (D-IL) also has a bill, S 1927, "The Empowerment Zone Enhancement Act." Both bills would provide grant funding for the twenty new zones and we believe that Mosely-Braun will co-sponsor the Jeffords/Leahy bill.

In the House, Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduced H.R. 3622, "The Empowerment Zone Enhancement Act" which is the companion to the Mosely-Braun bill, S. 1927. Also in the House, Representative Maurice Hinchley (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 4071 "The Rural Enterprise Communities Act of 1998" which concerns itself only with rural communities. This bill has a large number of sponsors and would be under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. There are talks between Hinchley and Rangel that would broaden the Hinchley bill to also authorize funding for urban Empowerment Zones.

It appears that we may be moving towards one significant bill in both the House and the Senate to bring a compromise bill that could be attached to some form of a tax bill. The U.S. Conference of Mayors sent a letter to its membership asking them to contact their Congressional Delegations to support the above mentioned bills and to include them as an amendment to any tax legislation that looks promising for passage. See the attached letter from Tom Cochran, Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

GINGRICH'S LARGE TAX CUT PLAN IS UNLIKELY THIS YEAR

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has conceded that his idea for a 10-year, $700 billion tax cut package will go nowhere this year. Acknowledging the fact that President Clinton would veto such a plan and that Senate Republican leaders do not share the same desire for such a heavy-fisted tax plan this year, Gingrich backed away from his massive tax cut plan. He, along with House Republican leaders, will try to move forward a much smaller tax cut plan. According to Gingrich, "We'll get something done this year unless the whole place melts down in September."

HUD'S NATIONAL PARTNERS IN HOMEOWNERSHIP INITIATIVE IS LOOKING FOR LOCAL PARTNERS

NCDA is a member of the National Partners in Homeownership, a public-private partnership that was formed in 1995 to dramatically increase homeownership opportunity in America in response to a challenge by President Clinton. The goal of the Partnership is to assist 8 million first-time homeowners by the year 2000. In order to reach this goal, however, the National Partners in Homeownership believe strong Local Partnerships must be encouraged.

Currently there are 148 Local Partnerships throughout the country. Local Partnerships are broad-based consortia of local lenders, nonprofit organizations, developers, local officials, community agencies, or any other organization committed to increasing the levels of homeownership. They are public/private partnerships, and each partner must contribute substantially to their efforts.

If you know of any groups or partnerships that you think would be good candidates to become registered Local Partnerships under the National Partners in Homeownership, please contact Toni Gallo at (703) 218-2784.

IDIS UPDATE

Presently, there are no training dates for IDIS after September. If your region has a great need for IDIS training, please contact your field office and Tonya, Inc. If enough people request training, HUD may be able to accommodate you. For more information on the IDIS training schedule, please contact Tonya, Inc. at 202-289-8100.

FY 1998 CPD FUNDS ARE SLOWLY BEING RELEASED

Many of you are aware of the slowness at which HUD is releasing FY 1998 funds to grantees. Congress appropriated the funds in October of 1997 and HUD released actual programmatic dollar amounts in December 1997. Many grantees who have completed and received approval of their action plans within the required format and time-line, have not received their grant agreements before the official beginning of their program years. Sheila Maith of Senator Kennedy's office contacted NCDA to get a clearer understanding of just how widespread the problem is. After contacting members via e-mail to request information on the status of grant agreements, we discovered that every region is having some difficulty. According to HUD's Office of Intergovernmental Relations, the problem has been caused by a new computer system that was supposed to speed up the process of Congressional notification of impending grant awards. Unfortunately the system seems to crash at will. However, after NCDA, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League Cities and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, and many members of Congress made inquires, it seems that grantees are getting their grant agreements. This has not solved the problem, grant agreements are well and good, but the money is not making it to IDIS.

NCDA contacted the Office of Intergovernmental Relations again and applauded them for their quick response to this problem. A letter of agreement is nice, but it doesn't pay the bills. Grantees need their money. They understand the problem and are working to get it resolved. If you have not received your grant agreement and have an approved action plan, your best recourse is to contact Secretary Cuomo's office of Intergovernmental Relations at 202-708-0030.
 

THE 1999 NATIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WEEK POSTER COMPETITION HAS BEEN EXTENDED

As the first step of this year-long effort, we invite NCDA's members to participate in the poster design competition. If you, or someone you know, would like to submit a design for the 13^th annual celebration of National Community Development Week and the 25^th anniversary of the CDBG program campaign, please provide a color rendering of your poster concept to Chandra Western, not later than September 3, 1998. This deadline is hard and fast, as staff will be leaving Washington for Newport, Rhode Island for the Executive Symposium on September 9, 1998. For more information on the poster design competition, please contact Chandra Western at NCDA.

NCDA TECHNOLOGY NEWS
 

NCDA recently received funding from HUD to fund its highly successful HOME Refresher Course within its regional membership areas. Up to $1,500 is available to assist four NCDA member regions sponsor a HOME Refresher Course. If you are interested in sponsoring a HOME Refresher Course, please contact Vicki Watson at 202-887-5532. Funds must be spent by December 1998.

POSTING JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS

NCDA staff is ever willing to include position vacancies of member communities in the NCDA Washington Report. To better assist members as well as staff, we ask member communities to e-mail position vacancies to Michael Lightfield, michael@ncdaonline.org, whenever possible. If you are not set up for e-mail, please fax them to Karen. An electronic copy makes it easier to post the position on NCDAonline.

NCDA BOARD OF DIRECTOR'S MINUTES AND CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS

Please find attached a copy of the Minutes from the NCDA Board of Director's Meeting held on June 3 at the 1998 Annual Conference. The next Board of Director's Meeting will be held on September 10, 1998 in Newport, RI at the annual Executive Symposium. Please e-mail or call Chandra Western (chandra@ncdaonline.org) with your request for agenda items to be considered at the September 10^th Board of Directors meeting in Newport, RI.

FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICES

August 14, 1998, Cooperative Agreements to Develop and Carry Out Authorized State Training, Accreditation, and Certification Programs for Lead-Based Paint. This notice announces EPA's intent to enter into cooperative agreements with states, territories, Indian tribes, and the District of Columbia which provide financial assistance for purposes of developing and carrying out EPA-authorized training, accreditation and certification programs for professionals engaged in lead-based paint activities. This notice describes eligibility criteria, eligible activities, application procedures and requirements, and funding criteria. EPA anticipates that up to $12.5 million will be made available in fiscal year 1998.

Job Opportunities 

Back to the Archives

Back to Front Page