American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008

Floor Speech

AMERICAN HOUSING RESCUE AND FORECLOSURE PREVENTION ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - July 10, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, today, I rise to express my support for the Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

The housing crisis in America has reached critical proportions. In Auburn, WA, Michelle was a single mom with an income that made it very difficult to find an apartment she could afford. Like so many people, she searched desperately to find a roof to put over her children's heads. The search is not easy. The search is not fair. But for the hundreds of thousands of Americans that need affordable housing today, the search is a reality.

The number of renter households jumped by nearly 1 million last year, according to a Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies Report. And monthly rents are reaching record highs. Last year, they climbed to an all time sky high of $775.

We are faced with a fundamental supply and demand problem: a ballooning renter population and a diminishing supply of affordable housing.

This is a problem that requires a real solution. And today, I am proud to say that we have taken action to put people like Michelle in the homes they so desperately need and deserve.

This action did not come without the hard work of many people. I especially want to commend Finance Committee Chairman Baucus, Senator Grassley, and their staffs. Because of their hard work, we have included in this comprehensive housing and economic recovery package a set of provisions that encourage the development of affordable rental housing by expanding and improving the low-income housing tax credit. I also want to recognize the tremendous leadership of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel, who has long been an advocate for affordable housing and a champion of the tax credit program.

Because of current conditions in the financial markets, the development of many affordable housing options has come to a screeching halt. And for the hundreds of thousands of homeowners that must now turn to rental housing, the homes they could afford are diminishing at an alarming pace.

I knew this was a critical problem that needed a solution. Many of my colleagues, including Senators Kerry and Smith, agreed. We worked together to ensure that the tax title of this bill contains the provision that will extend the reach of two of our most successful and broadly supported Federal housing programs: the Housing Bond and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Programs.

We now have the best cumulative version of what the Senate and House independently approved.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program was created as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and made permanent in 1993. Designed as a public-private funding partnership, largely administered by the States, this program built its way into the history books as the most successful production program in existence.

These tax credits have created 2 million homes for families in need--homes with restricted rents for terms of at least 30 years that would have otherwise been impossible.

In fact, in April 2007, Michelle from Auburn, WA, moved into one of these homes created by tax credits. She is thriving and able to provide for her children. Without tax credits like these, I am unsure where Michelle and her family would be.

We are building opportunity out of this past success and passing this opportunity on to the Americans who need it.

This will work now to increase the number of affordable choices available to our neighbors in need. State agencies award housing tax credits to housing developers, who turn the credits into construction funds by selling them to investors. These funds allow developers to borrow less money and pass the savings on to renters in the forms of lower rental rates.

A classic ``win-win'' situation.

By extending the reach of this program in the tax title of this bill, we give States the flexibility they need to develop housing credit properties in hard-to-serve, often rural, areas; we give investors needed AMT relief for housing bonds, housing credits, and rehabilitation credits; and we give our vulnerable neighbors, like Michelle, the homes they need.

It is critically important that Congress's response to the housing crisis not leave out those in need of affordable rental housing. I am proud of this legislation and am anxious to see it enacted into law.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source