Dive Brief:
- Representatives from the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors testified before the House Financial Services Committee’s Housing and Insurance Subcommittee in support of the Housing and Modernization Act of 2015 — or H.R. 3700, introduced by Subcommittee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.).
- The NAHB’s testimony focused on the act's potential to help streamline programs for low-income homebuyers and renters, while the NAR concentrated on its easing of FHA condominium financing policies.
- The act would change the condo recertification process and owner-occupancy requirements —currently the biggest obstacles to condo ownership through FHA-backed mortgages, according to the NAR. The NAHB favors the act’s revamp of Section 8 and rural housing policies intended to increase access to and assistance for affordable rental housing.
Dive Insight:
Past NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly told the committee that the bill "makes necessary and common-sense changes to important housing programs. It will reduce costs to taxpayers and improve access to affordable housing to those most in need. We urge the House to act swiftly to advance this bill."
However, Kelly also expressed concern over President Obama’s Federal Flood Risk Management standards, which expands floodplains management requirements beyond the 100-year floodplains limits for all federally funded projects.
According to the NAHB, the Department of Housing and Urban Development plans on applying the new standards to multifamily projects using FHA-backed loans for construction, as well as Community Development Block Grants and HOME grants. However, the NAHB claims, HUD has neither mapped the new floodplains nor completed a cost-benefit analysis of the implementation of the new standard, which the NAHB is encouraging HUD to do.
"We strongly urge HUD to use any and all flexibility when implementing the order to ensure HUD’s rules do not make construction or substantial rehabilitation of HUD-financed or HUD-assisted multifamily housing cost prohibitive," Kelly said.