Housing Call: September 5, 2023 – North Carolina Housing Coalition

NCHC Updates

We want YOUR feedback – give us input about County Profiles as well as what other advocacy and policy resources and tools would be helpful for you.

Link to feedback: https://airtable.com/appg5jNYCjPIllFWB/shrrvZA31WQ5bTXe8

Link to County Profile gallery (see past County Profiles): https://airtable.com/appg5jNYCjPIllFWB/shrmGHAQ7ySWh8JqI/tblaeOws9FPgKsvZV

Federal Updates

Reminder about engagement opportunities – AHCIA & AHS
- Closes September 7 – The 2023 version of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA 2023) was introduced three months ago and is consistently breaking records. The bill has 28 cosponsors in the Senate, evenly divided, which is more Senate Republican cosponsors on the bill than there were in the previous Congress, and 159 cosponsors in the House, also evenly split. There is still a lot of opportunity for advocacy!

AHCIA needs support from Local Government Leaders as well! ACTION is partnering with the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and Mayors & CEOs for U.S Housing Investment on a letter from local government to the leaders in Congress underscoring the importance of the legislation and their support of the AHCIA.
- Reach out to your local government leaders to sign on in support of the AHCIA of 2023 – the deadline for signatures is September 7, 2023.
- There are several factsheets available for North Carolina and the impact of the Low-income Housing Tax Credit in our state
- In a similar letter in 2021 from U.S mayors – there were only two signatures from North Carolina. Let’s do better!
- If you or your local government leaders have questions they can email ACTION at actioncampaign@enterprisecommunity.org
Closes September 20 – AHS Engagement
- This year is the 50th year of the American Housing Survey – a tool a lot of use quite often. HUD is collecting feedback until September 20, 2023 to ensure that AHS data are as powerful and useful as possible for policymakers, researchers, industry leaders and the public. They are pulling out two key aspects of the AHS: oversamples and topic modules. Send your feedback to ahs2025planning@huduser.gov.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) continues to undergo a stakeholder engagement process to learn more about potential challenges and opportunities related to creating and enforcing new tenant protections. Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee recently sent a letter to FHFA director Sandra Thompson urging her to use the FHFA’s full authority to enact tenant protections at FHFA-financed properties. Suggested protections outlined in the letter include protections from egregious rent increases and evictions, protection against source-of-income discrimination, and compliance with fair housing laws.
Last Thursday, HUD published FY 2024 Fair Market Rents which are used to set the payment standard for vouchers and other HUD programs. Nationally FMRs increased by an average of 12%. Competitive fair market rents help voucher recipients to compete against private market tenants in today’s tight rental market, where a shortage of units means that units can command higher rents. In the press release, HUD also announced an infusion of $113 M to the Housing Choice Voucher program to create an additional 9,500 vouchers. While specific Housing Authority awardees have not been publicly announced, we know that NC was allocated $156K for new vouchers.
Another update from HUD on Thursday announced more than $24M to 57 fair housing organizations across the US to fight housing discrimination. Legal Aid of NC was awarded a $425K Private Enforcement Initiative grant. The Private Enforcement Initiative program “funds housing nonprofits work to conduct testing and enforcement activities to prevent or eliminate discriminatory housing practices.”

State Legislative Updates

No votes in the House this week. The Senate returns today.

State & Local Community Updates

Flood of cases under NC ‘second chance’ law prompts pause, push to fix expungements | The Charlotte Observer recently reported that NC’s Second Chance law is on pause until 2024. The law aims to remove charges from a person’s record when they are found not guilty of the offense or a prosecutor has dismissed it. The law briefly went into effect in December 2021 but the courts have been overwhelmed by the work involved to automatically expunge such records and notify law enforcement agencies.
Looking to Buy a Home? This NC city now offers up to $80,000 for down payment | The N&O recently highlighted the relaunch of Durham’s Down-Payment Assistance Program to help low-income people who live and work in Durham become homeowners. The city will allocate about $5.7M towards the program and residents can receive loans of up to $80K, which is 4 times more than was originally offered in the program’s previous run. Fifteen-year, forgivable, interest-free loans with a zero payment will be made on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds are depleted.

Reports & Resources

[report] Beyond Housing Stability: Understanding Tenant and Landlord Experiences and the Impact of ERA | NLIHC
- NLIHC, the Housing Initiative at Penn, and the Reinvestment Fund released a joint report on tenant and landlord experiences with Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program. The report found that the ERA program improved outcomes in areas well beyond housing stability, including financial security, child well-being, and overall health. There will also be a webinar discussing findings from the report on 9/13 from 2 – 3 pm ET.

[resource] Economic Revitalization Guide for CDBG-DR Grantees | HUD
[policy brief] Residential Segregation And Health: History, Harms, And Next Steps | Health Affairs
[summary of research findings] Public Housing and the Threat of Eviction | Eviction Lab

Events

[webinar] Housing for Health Panel Series: Preservation | Enterprise Community Partners & Kaiser Permanente, 9/7, 11-12:30 ET
[webinar] The Critical Role of Long-Term Operating Subsidies for Permanent Supportive Housing | The Terner Center for Housing Innovation, 9/7, 4 p.m. ET
[in-person] Homeowner Education Series | Cape Fear Housing Coalition. 9/7, 9/14, 9/21, & 9/28, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., see website to register and for locations. Free & open to the public.
[in-person] Mentorship Meetup | NCWAHN, Wednesday, 9/13, 5:30 – 7:30pm at Fortnight Brewery (Cary)
- Join NCWAHN in a session of speed-meetings between prospective mentors and mentees to connect with someone in the affordable housing industry. RSVP is available through the link in the call notes.