There are about 35 legislative days left until the end of the year. There are some small differences between the House and Senate calendars, and either body may choose to work more days, but the total time remaining to do necessary work is pretty small.
The legislative work to be done is far from small. Immediate hurricane relief and rebuilding help for the Gulf Coast, Florida, Puerto Rico and other affected areas. Annual appropriations. Reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program and expansion of its borrowing authority. Tax changes, as newly announced last week. Reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
NHC members are hard at work ensuring that affordable housing doesn’t get lost in the welter of competing priorities. The GOP blueprint for tax reform would retain the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which shows the effectiveness both of the program and of long-sustained advocacy on its behalf by many in the NHC membership guided by the ACTION campaign. The hearing in House Financial Services last week on expanding the Family Self-Sufficiency program featured NHC members Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County, Abt Associates and the Housing Partnership Network, all of whom described how housing can be a platform for household economic success.
A great opportunity to help focus on federal housing policy is our Solutions for Affordable Housing convening coming up November 29 here in Washington, DC. Federal policymakers, housing providers, advocates and many other stakeholders will gather to explore what’s needed in federal housing policy and what that means for housing work across the country. We have extended the early bird rate, so I encourage you to register soon. I hope to see all of you at the event next month.