By David Gasson
| Spring has sprung and Congress is back in Washington after the Easter/Passover recess. It would be an understatement to say there is a lot going on in the world but for this update, we are going to block out the noise and focus on housing. As many of you know I like to focus on the positive and we have a lot of progress on the housing agenda to report on so let’s go. With Congress back in DC we hope to see progress on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. When we last visited our friends on Capitol Hill they were playing “my bills better than your bill.” Over the recess we had a conversation with one of the Senate leads on the bill and encouraged them to both revisit the Build to Rent (BTR) provision in their bill as well as include specific language exempting IRC Section 42 from the prohibition against institutional investors. We explained that the current language is too ambiguous and some maybe conclude the LIHTC could not be utilized to produce single-family, townhouse or duplex rental homes. In addition to the prohibition against private-equity investment in housing, the House also has issues with what was left out of the Senate bill, namely community banking provisions that the House believes would foster more investment and financing for affordable housing. We have encouraged both sides to negotiate the differences in the bills, as opposed to a conference committee, which would take much longer, open both bills to significant rewrites and potentially scrap the legislation. This would be a very disappointing result as both bills passed their chambers with significant bipartisan support, acknowledging that housing regulation and economics must be addressed now. We are hopeful the two sides will see the benefit of discussions and how passing a housing reform bill would be a big win for the country. We also have good news to share regarding Build America/Buy America. It is no secret that BABA has been a significant hinderance to production and our quest to decrease the cost to build affordable housing. This past week we had a meeting with the Made in America Office (MIAO) at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). To say the meeting was positive would be an understatement as the staff acknowledged the problems the BABA mandate has created for housing production. Without going into detail, the MIAO folks indicated they are open to blanket waivers for items and materials that cannot be sourced in the US, and possibly items that cannot be sourced in quantity. We also discussed the cost of administration that comes with the mandate, including the need to hire full or part-time staff to manage BABA issues and in many cases consultants. They are also sensitive to the waiver process, and they would like to lessen the time it takes to get waivers adjudicated. This will be an ongoing conversation with them but in the meantime the industry needs to assemble lists of items for consideration for blanket waivers. We are working with NH&RA, NCSHA, NAHB and the NMHC on this process and encourage all to submit items for consideration that fit the criteria mentioned above. Thank you for your continued advocacy of housing issues. David Gasson |