CONTACT YOUR SENATORS TO TAKE ACTION ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROPOSALS

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

I just received this communique from The Enterprise Foundation. I'm passing it on to you. We've got to unify our efforts to make sure we continue to have affordable homes, or we'll all be sidewalk sitters.

Dear Gloria ,

ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT!!!

Please call or e-mail your Senators TODAY to tell him/her to take immediate action on four major affordable housing and community development proposals that are in jeopardy.

Make Your Voice Heard Now!

1. Call the Capitol switchboard 888-460-0813 and ask for your Senators' office.
Urge your Senator take immediate action on four major housing provisions that are in jeopardy
2. If you know the DC-based tax and/or housing staffer for your Senator, call or e-mail him/her directly.
3. Make your case using the suggested talking points below.
4. Encourage partner organizations and groups in your network to do the same.

Background
On July 20, the Senate voted to advance the unemployment insurance extension in H.R. 4213 but in doing so, dropped the following important affordable housing and community development proposals from the bill:

1. Extending the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) 9 percent exchange program;
2. Providing $1 billion for an initial capitalization for the National Housing Trust Fund and $65 million
in project-based assistance for trust fund units
3. Extending the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program and allowing the NMTC to be taken against
alternative minimum tax liability; and
4. Also stalled, but in a different bill, is the five-year Housing Credit carryback

All of these proposals are at risk of being abandoned unless Senators hear from their constituents. Please contact your Senators TODAY!
Emphasize these programs create JOBS!

Why Immediate Action on these Provisions is Needed
1. An extension of the Housing Credit exchange is needed because:

* The Housing Credit investment market remains depressed, and many state agency-approved projects
are sidelined pending congressional action to extend the exchange program.
* According to estimates by the National Association of Home Builders, if extended, projects associated
with the exchange program will yield approximately 44,000 jobs nationwide in 2011, in addition to
generating millions in new wages, business income, and taxes.

2. Funding for the National Housing Trust Fund is needed because

* In the United States today, there are only 37 rental homes available and affordable for every 100
households with incomes below 30 percent of their area median.
* A scarcity of housing that the poorest families can afford is the principal cause of homelessness
in the United States.
* Providing funding for the National Housing Trust Fund will address this vital affordable housing need
while creating tens of thousands of new jobs.

3. An extension of the NMTC is needed because:

* The NMTC expired at the end of last year, and Congress needs to act to ensure the program can
continue to provide economic opportunity for low-income communities throughout the nation.
* If does not, the program will come to an abrupt halt, adversely impacting community development
and job creation efforts across the country.
* Since its inception, more than $16 billion in private capital has been raised to support more
than 15,000 businesses, helping to develop or rehabilitate over 68 million square feet of real estate,
and create more than 300,000 jobs in low-income communities and targeted for low-income populations.

4. A five-year Housing Credit carryback is needed because:

* Unlike other tax credits, the Housing Credit was particularly hard hit when Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac stopped investing-they represented about 40 percent of the annual investment.
* The five-year carry back will bring more investment back into the market (as much as $5 billion)
to create much needed affordable housing and jobs.

As with all the information I've sent you previously, this must be shared and acted upon. We don't have the leisure of waiting to see what's going to happen. While we languish, the devil (as they say) is busy. They want to keep the status quo. We can't afford not to take action.

Please print, publish, pass it on and participate by contacting your congressional officials.

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson