House Panel OKs Affordable Housing Trust Fund Program

WASHINGTON - The House Financial Services Committee last week approved a bill creating a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which would provide as much as $1 billion a year to help build affordable homes. But the Fund, which would provide new opportunities for credit unions to finance such projects, has a long way to go because its main source of funding would be the affordable housing funds that would be collected from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the long-stalled secondary market reform bill.

The aim of the trust fund is to construct as many as 1.5 million affordable housing units over the next 10 years, without any federal expenditures. The bill now goes to the full House for a vote.

"The growing shortage of affordable housing is one of the most serious social and economic problems facing our country. Given our severely constrained fiscal realities, we are today doing the best we can to address this-creating a low income housing trust fund that will be paid for in ways that do not draw from federal tax revenues," said Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services panel.

"The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund is a critical step forward toward a historic moment in affordable housing. As the affordable housing crisis in this country continues to worsen after years of neglect, we must move quickly to get the federal government back in the affordable housing production business," said Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee, who sponsors the bill. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com