by Blake Warenik, National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy
Today NHC Vice President for Policy and Advocacy Ethan Handelman addressed the opening plenary session of the 2011 North Carolina Affordable Housing Conference: “Housing Works.” The conference, convened in a joint effort by the North Carolina Housing Coalition, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, and the Community Investment Coalition of the Carolinas, drew an audience of more than 900 housing stakeholders to the Raleigh Convention Center in the state capital.
Offering a national perspective, Handelman highlighted ways the North Carolina housing landscape is affected by the debate in Washington. Among other issues highlighted from NHC’s policy priorities, he covered:
- The appropriations challenge, as the pressure of deficit reduction places increasing constraints on federal funding for housing programs
- The deliberations of the “Super Committee,” and how those affect the prospects for housing program funding and possible changes in housing tax programs
- Tax reform, and potential risks to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit in the near and long term
- The foreclosure crisis, including the need to responsibly deleverage housing while repairing neighborhoods damaged by foreclosures
- Mortgage finance reform, which over the next few years will determine how effectively we channel investment into both rental and homeownership housing.
“Housing Works” runs through tomorrow, November 2.