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“Our new slogan is HR-1 in 2021,” he says. “We want the top priority of the next Congress and administration to be housing, and there’s a lot of work ahead to get us there.” – David M. Dworkin

“In addition to the NAR, MBA and NAAHL, the letter was signed by the Asian Real Estate Association of America; the Consumer Federation of America; the Consumer Mortgage Coalition; Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.; Habitat for Humanity International; the Leading Builders of America; the Local Initiatives Support Corporation; Make Room, Inc.; the Manufactured Housing Institute; Mercy Housing; Nareit; the National Apartment Association; the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals; the National Association of Home Builders; the National Association of Real Estate Brokers; the National Community Stabilization Trust; the National Council of State Housing Agencies; the National Housing Conference…”

The letter stated “These programs are effective tools in creating affordable housing supply and are funded by a de minimis fee on new business, currently 4.2 basis points, and not through federal appropriations. They have broad bipartisan support and failure to continue to fund them will result in an even greater need for government spending to address the shortage of affordable housing in the future.”

“The Capital Magnet Fund provides essential equity capital that non-profit developers and lenders often cannot find elsewhere — funding to do pre-development work, create revolving loan funds, establish loan loss reserves and provide loan guarantees — all critical pieces of affordable housing and community development.” David M. Dworkin

David Dworkin, president and CEO of National Housing Conference, agrees. “There are a couple of reasons why it does not make much sense as a blanket proposal,” he said. Dworkin is worried that low- and moderate-income families could get displaced in scenarios such as the one Lawrence describes.

“The National Housing Conference submitted comments seeking more reporting requirements “to avoid the potential for fraud and displacement that would ultimately increase the cost of the initiative and turn [OZs] into a costly tax shelter.”

“While none of the 1,175 rental contracts that were not renewed by HUD due to the shutdown were likely to affect low-income tenants, according to the National Housing Conference (NHC), this could have changed if the shutdown extended past February. NHC said that HUD staff was working with landlords across the country to ensure this does not happen. Additionally, contracts were being paid with available funds, and landlords were being told to use their reserves to cover operating expenses.”

“Your mortgage company or landlord may not even know you’re a federal worker…for mortgage holders you need to call and send a letter to your mortgage servicer,” David M. Dworkin shared. “Make a photo copy of your government id, so they know it’s legit you’re a federal employee. Photo copy the email you may have gotten from your supervisor explaining what you’re supposed to do. That stuff is very important part of the record for the lender, and it will make it easier for them to help you.”

“Every day the stalemate continues, pressure increases on both the White House and Congress to reach a settlement,” said David M. Dworkin, President and CEO of NHC. “So there is no guarantee that the government will still be shut down in February, but we are in uncharted water and anything is possible.”

“We need to be careful not to scare senior citizens for instance into thinking they’re going to be kicked out of their homes.” – David M. Dworkin