Pending Federal Legislation
NAR is tracking a number of federal bills that relate to housing opportunity.
The 108th Congress has begun, and a number of bills relating to housing opportunity have been introduced. The following are a selection of bills that are expected to move through the legislative process this year.
- H.R. 839/S. 875, “The Renewing the Dream Tax Credit Act” Introduced by Rob Portman (R-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Henry Bonilla (R-TX) in the House and John Kerry (D-MA), Rick Santorum (R-PA), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Wayne Allard (R-CO), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Hilary Clinton (D-NY)
This bill would provide a tax credit to developers and investors who build (or rehabilitate) affordable housing for lower income individuals to purchase. The credit is designed to make up any difference between the cost of developing the property and the price (usually less than the cost) at which the property can be sold.
The full text of H.R. 839 -
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00839:
- H.R. 1276/ S. 811, “The American Dream Downpayment Act” Introduced by Katherine Harris (R-FL) in the House and Wayne Allard (R-CO) in the Senate
This bill will provide grants to first time homebuyers for downpayment and closing costs. The bill is estimated to assist 40,000 families a year. Recipients of the grants must have annual incomes not exceeding 80% of area median income. The bill has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee. A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate soon. The full text of H.R. 1276 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.01276:
- H.R. 1985, the “FHA Multifamily Loan Limit Adjustment Act”, Introduced by Gary Miller (R-CA)
A bill to increase FHA loan limits for the construction of multifamily housing located in high-cost areas. The bill would raise the maximum areawide adjustment from 110 to 140 percent of the basic limits. The maximum adjustment on a project-by-project basis would be raised from 140 to 170 percent. The full text of H.R. 1985 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:1:./temp/~c108HgXZI5::
- H.R. 1443, the “Access to Affordable Mortgages Act”, introduced by Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Legislation that provides a technical change to hybrid FHA adjustable rate mortgages enabling lenders to allow more families to qualify for hybrid FHA ARM loans. The full text of H.R. 1443 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.1443:
- H.R. 284, “Housing Bond and Credit Modernization and Fairness Act” Introduced by Amo Houghton (R-NY)
This bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the required use of certain principal repayments on mortgage subsidy bond financing to redeem bonds, to modify the purchase price limitation under mortgage subsidy bond rules based on median family income. Full text of H.R. 284 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00284:
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General Legislative Issues |
