On December 4 and 5, CHC met with over

20 members of Congress and staff, including chairs and members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, House Committee on Ways and Means, House Committee on Financial Services, and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. We urged Senators and Representatives to protect critical housing programs and tax incentives, such as the low income housing tax credit (LIHTC), CDBG, HOME and Section 8 grants, from new or expanded deficit reduction plans, to help confirm Carol Galante as FHA Commissioner/Assistant Secretary for Housing, and to support H.R. 3661 and S. 1989, which would stabilize the minimum low-income housing tax credit rate.

Since our visit last month, Carol Galante was confirmed as

as the Assistant Secretary for Housing/FHA Commissioner by a 69-24 vote. Additionally, Congress passed H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, thereby averting the fiscal cliff. The legislation contains the tax extenders provisions passed by the Senate Finance Committee in August, which included extending the fixed 9% tax credit to Housing Credit allocations made before January 1, 2014, rather than January 1, 2013. Other housing and community development-related provisions in the bill include extension of the exclusion of military basic housing allowances from income qualification calculations under the Housing Credit program to January 1, 2014; an extension of the exclusion from gross income of discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness to January 1, 2014; an extension of the New Markets Tax Credit program through December 31, 2013; and the extension of energy efficiency credits for new and existing homes through December 31, 2013.  

With the end of the 112th Congress, the Cantwell-Snowe (S. 1989) and the Tiberi-Neal (H.R. 3661) bills have expired, and must be reintroduced for the 113th Congress. 

Thank you to our CHC delegations for helping us impact affordable housing policy in California and the nation!

As we know all too well, affordable housing projects frequently fall victim to meritless CEQA litigation filed for non-environmental reasons. These CEQA abuses prohibit the development of many projects every year, depriving California of desperately-needed affordable housing. The California Housing Consortium is part of a coalition supporting legislation that would help end this abuse by modernizing CEQA.

The coalition supports policy reforms that would preserve CEQA's original intent-environmental protection - while curbing abusive litigation. Projects that comply with all state, local and federal environmental and land-use planning laws and regulations should not be subject to CEQA lawsuits attempting to force additional mitigation measures above and beyond current law. Compliance with California's stringent environmental standards should mean something, and the supported policy reforms would provide clarity and help reduce abuses of CEQA that frequently jeopardize projects like affordable housing.

The supported policy principles are attached for your reference, but the four main components are below:

• Integrate Environmental and Planning Laws
• Eliminate CEQA Duplication
• Focus CEQA Litigation on Compliance with Environmental and Planning Laws
• Enhance Public Disclosure and Accountability

HOW CHC MEMBERS CAN HELP

We expect that legislation to be introduced sometime early next session, but there is already an active coalition gearing up for what will be a huge legislative push. There are several ways CHC members can help now as the coalition builds capacity.

• Join the Coalition by filling out this form online: While CHC is a member of the coalition, we need individual local affordable housing developers and housing advocates to join as well. Local faces will be critical for outreach to legislators and many of you have been directly involved in CEQA challenges and understand the importance of meaningful CEQA reform.

• Get Coalition Case Studies: The coalition is currently collecting case studies that exemplify why CEQA reform is needed. Many of you will know of or have been involved with projects that have been held up in your communities, often for non-environmental reasons. These delays increase the cost of projects and in some cases result in the projects not going forward at all. If you have case studies in mind, please coordinate directly with Amanda Frew at afrew@bcfpublicaffairs.com or 916-443-0872. 

Should you have any questions about the coalition's efforts, you can directly contact the firm in charge of managing the coalition:

Bicker, Castillo and Fairbanks

916-443-0872

Amanda Frew, afrew@bcfpublicaffairs.com 

Meghan Callahan, mcallahan@bcfpublicaffairs.com