National Housing Trust Fund

Most Recent Update on the National Housing Trust Fund

Most recent Memo to Members articles on the NHTF:

For more articles on NHTF, click here to view a full archive of Memo to Members.

National Housing Trust Fund Resources

WEBINAR MATERIALS: PowerPoint Slides from June 30 Webinar (PDF)

WEBINAR MATERIALS: Video Recording of June 30 Webinar (WMV file; may take a few minutes to download)

NHTF Press Releases

Congressional Testimonies

NEW: Full List of NHTF Supporters (July 2011)

NHTF FAQ (May 2011)

NEW: NHTF One-Page Fact Sheet (July 2011)

New: NHTF Current Avenues for Funding (October 2011)

NHTF Support Letter with all Signatories Listed

Letters to Senators Listed by State

Roll Call Ad

Distribution of Funds by State

NHTF Background

After years of hard work, challenges, and setbacks, advocates across the country celebrated the creation of a National Housing Trust Fund in July of 2008.

The National Housing Trust Fund was established as a provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The passage of National Housing Trust Fund legislation is a major victory for low income housing advocates and the lowest income people in our country with the most serious needs.

The housing trust fund will, once capitalized, provide communities with funds to build, preserve, and rehabilitate rental homes that are affordable for extremely and very low income households. The Housing Trust Fund’s most important features are:

  • It is a permanent program, and will have dedicated source of funding not subject to the annual appropriations process.
  • At least 90% of the funds must be used for the production, preservation, rehabilitation, or operation of rental housing. Up to 10% can be used for the following homeownership activities for first-time homebuyers: production, preservation, and rehabilitation; down payment assistance, closing cost assistance, and assistance for interest rate buy-downs.
  • At least 75% of the funds for rental housing must benefit extremely low income households and all funds must benefit very low income households.

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Learn about the NHTF Proposed Regulations:

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Updates, News, and Multimedia about the NHTF


NEW: Webinar Materials from NLIHC Webinar on NHTF Funding Prospects. June 30, 2011

 

7/13/11 : Bill Eliminating the NHTF Passes Financial Services Subcommittee

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) approved a package of bills intended to dismantle the housing GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in a Subcommittee markup on Tuesday, July 12. One of the bills, H.R. 2441, introduced by Representative Ed Royce (R-CA), would abolish the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) as well as the Capital Magnet Fund. The bill passed by a vote of 18 to 14, along party lines.

READ MORE...

 

Call to Action: Oppose Attack on the National Housing Trust Fund! May 19, 2011

On Friday, May 13, Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) announced his intention to introduce a bill that would abolish the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). In a statement about the bill, Representative Royce called the NHTF “a slush fund for special interest housing groups.”

Your Representative is on the Subcommittee that will consider this bill in a hearing next Wednesday, May 25. The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises will hear testimony on this and several other bills. NLIHC President and CEO Sheila Crowley will testify about the NHTF at the hearing.

Call your Representative NOW and urge him/her to oppose Representative Royce’s bill (no bill number yet). Tell your Representative that the NHTF is being mischaracterized by Representative Royce and that the NHTF is critical to addressing the deficit of housing affordable to extremely low income individuals and families.

Call the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 to be connected to your Representative’s office.

After calling, please email us at outreach@nlihc.org to let us know which office you called and how the call went. We need to know which DC offices are hearing support for the NHTF from their constituents prior to this hearing.

You can also click on the blue Take Action link above and enter your zip code to find your Representative’s number.

Thank you for your continued support and action!

Take Action!

 

Letter from NLIHC President Sheila Crowley to Endorsers and Supporters of the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign. February 17, 2011

UPDATE: Understanding the Latest National Housing Trust Fund Developments


The Obama Administration has taken two important steps in the last week toward providing funding for the National Housing Trust Fund.

The purpose of this memo is to provide you with more detail about both proposals and about how you can help to advance them.

First, the President’s FY12 budget proposal includes $1 billion as the initial capitalization for the NHTF. Second, the report issued by the Administration on how to reform the housing finance system in the wake of the foreclosure crisis suggests the creation of a dedicated source of revenue for affordable housing activities and cites the NHTF as such an activity. These two actions are separate and distinct.

Read more... 

 

National Housing Trust Fund Campaign Applauds Administration’s Report on Federal Housing Finance Reform, February 11, 2011

The Obama Administration’s report to Congress on “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market” proposes important measures to address the long-neglected shortage of rental housing that is affordable for the lowest income Americans.

The Administration asserts that an essential element of whatever new housing finance system the Congress will create is a commitment to a “system of transparent and targeted support for access and affordability.” This includes a dedicated funding mechanism that “would support the development and preservation of more affordable rental housing for the lowest-income families to address serious supply shortages, similar to the Housing Trust Fund that the President has proposed to be capitalized.” The paper cites the fact that for “every 100 extremely low income American families, only 32 adequate rental homes are affordable.”

... On behalf of the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign, Sheila Crowley, President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said “by including the housing shortage faced by the lowest income Americans in this report, the Obama Administration has focused attention on the fact that the U.S. housing market has not met the needs of all our people. The report offers a way forward for change and a chance to finally assure decent and affordable homes for all Americans, including a revenue source for the National Housing Trust Fund. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to advance this goal as soon as possible.”

To read NLIHC's full February 11, 2011 press release, click here.

To read the Administration's full "Reforming America's Housing Finance Market" report, click here.

 

The National Housing Trust Fund Campaign's letters to Congress calling for funding of the National Housing Trust Fund, May 14, 2010

The National Housing Trust Fund Campaign has sent a letter to every Member of Congress calling for the immediate funding of the National Housing Trust Fund. The letter has been signed by organizations in each of the 435 Congressional districts, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. More than 2,225 national, state, and local organizations have signed the letter.

Click here to read the letter and the complete list of signers.

The letter reads:

We, the undersigned organizations, urge Congress to act soon to provide the initial funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). We are requesting $1.065 billion be provided immediately to the NHTF: $1 billion to capitalize the NHTF and $65 million for project-based vouchers to couple with NHTF capital grants.

The NHTF was created in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) to address the severe shortage of rental homes that are affordable for the lowest income families, but it has not yet been funded. The President proposed funding for the NHTF in his FY10 and FY11 budget requests. 

In the United States today, there are only 37 rental homes available and affordable for every 100 households with incomes below 30% of their area median.  A scarcity of housing that the poorest families can afford is the principal cause of homelessness in the United States.

Investment in the NHTF will create good jobs. Every $1 billion provided to the Trust Fund will support the immediate construction of 10,000 rental homes, creating 15,100 new construction jobs and 3,800 new jobs in ongoing operations.

We urge Congress to provide this badly needed funding at the soonest possible opportunity.

Thank you to all the organizations that have signed the letter to date, especially national and state member of the NHTF Campaign who reached out their networks.

The NHTF Campaign will continue to collect organizational sign-ons. Sign on at: www.nlihc.org/sign.

 

 

  • Get NHTF State Allocation Estimates by HUD - click here
  • Listen to a recording of Sheila Crowley’s November 9, 2010, national conference call to discuss the proposed NHTF regulations. The proposed regulations arrived just before Congress returned on November 15 for its lame duck session. Click here to listen to the call.
  • Listen to a recording of Sheila Crowley’s January 19, 2010, national conference call to discuss the current state of play on the National Housing Trust Fund. Click here to listen to the call. Note: Play this audio recording from the 1:20 mark for best quality.
  • Read NLIHC's Preliminary Estimates of State Allocation Amounts from NHTF for Every Billion Allocated and Invested - click here
  • Read HUD's reg impact analysis on NHTF. Also includes state allocation estimates and reasoning behind allocation proposed rule - click here
  • Listen to a recording of Sheila Crowley’s January 19, 2010, national conference call to discuss the current state of play on the National Housing Trust Fund. Click here to listen to the call. Note: Play this audio recording from the 1:20 mark for best quality.
  • Read a letter from NLIHC President Sheila Crowley to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi click here and Congressman Reid click here urging them to make sure that at least $1 billion is provided for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) before the year is out.
  • Listen to a recording of Sheila Crowley’s August 22, 2008, national call describing the new National Housing Trust Fund click here to listen to the call. For more information click here.