Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced the Decent, Affordable, Safe Housing for All (DASH) Act on Thursday, a sweeping legislation that aims to address the housing supply crisis and eliminate homelessness within five years of its passage.

The bulk of the bill is dedicated to new tax credit programs that are aimed at reducing housing cost burdens and increasing the supply of homes affordable to low- and middle-income families. These include the familiar Neighborhood Homes Investment Act and changes to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, as well as several new proposals, such as tax credits aimed at renters and middle-income housing developers. In addition, the bill proposes a new, tax credit-based model for down payment assistance, distinct from that being pushed by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)

The bill also includes several provisions directly targeted at the country’s worsening homelessness problem, including providing Housing Choice Vouchers to all homeless families and expanding access to social services such as childcare and nutritional assistance. “As housing prices skyrocket, a generation of young people are increasingly locked out of homeownership,” Wyden said. “It’s time America’s lawmakers get with the program and enact 21st century housing policies that adequately address 21st century challenges.”

NHC is excited to announce an opening for the position of Marketing and Communications Manager. This role involves managing and shaping the brand of the oldest and broadest housing coalition in the country, coordinating our events and webinars, and managing media relationships. We are looking for applicants with at least five years of marketing experience, fluency in social media and web design platforms, and strong research and writing skills. The full job listing can be found here, and those interested should send a cover letter and resume to NHC Vice President of Operations Amanda Mitchell.

Additionally, NHC would like to alert members to three openings at the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Community and Consumer Affairs for senior-level analysts focusing on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The Board is seeking analysts with at least five years of relevant professional experience, preferably with first-hand knowledge of CRA regulation, and familiarity with analyzing consumer financial data. The full job listing can be found here.

Last Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a report on mortgage servicers’ pandemic responses. The CFPB tracked metrics from 16 large mortgage servicers and ultimately concludes that the industry has a widely varied response to pandemic-related services. Data observed included information regarding call metrics, pandemic forbearance exit metrics, delinquency metrics, borrower profiles, and assistance enrollment. The metrics revealed that while some providers were responsive, others are struggling to adequately respond to demand. One example was phone call wait times, which ranged from 3 to 26 minutes.

Acting CFPB Director Dave Uejio stated in a press release, “Today’s report should inform servicers’ own data reviews as they determine whether they are doing enough for borrowers. Servicers who find themselves at the bottom of the pack should immediately take corrective steps. The CFPB will hold accountable those servicers who cause harm to homeowners and families.”

Ginnie Mae extended the comment period on its proposed changes to requirements for issuers of its single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS) last Thursday. The deadline to submit comments was extended for an additional 60 days past the original deadline of Aug. 9.

Ginnie Mae’s proposed changes include increasing requirements for issuers’ net worth and liquidity and minimum risk-based capital ratios for nonbanks, something the corporation says is necessary to ensure its issuers can weather economic downturns. However, analysts at the Urban Institute argue that the new risk-based capital requirements could depress demand for government-backed mortgages, ultimately raising rates for FHA and VA borrowers.

Last week, HUD also announced it would make available $2.7 billion through its Continuum of Care (CoC) program for organizations to use to provide housing and supportive services to the homeless. In conjunction with the announcement, HUD also issued its first CoC Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) in over a year, after suspending the competitive grant process due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Until now, HUD was renewing grants without NOFOs to ease burdens on staff during the pandemic.

In a decision that could threaten local protections against evictions across the country, the Supreme Court ruled last week that a New York law passed to limit evictions during the pandemic violates landlords’ rights to due process. The law, which was due to expire at the end of this month, protected tenants from eviction if they self-certified that they had experienced financial hardship due to the pandemic and could not pay rent. 

The Court ruled 6-3 that the self-certification process denied landlords their fifth amendment rights since landlords had no way of appealing tenants’ certifications, violating the principle that “no man can be a judge in his own case.” The ruling raised alarm among activists in New York and other states, who worried that the Court might find similar laws unconstitutional and allow for more evictions even as the country faces another wave of COVID-19 infections.