Affordable Housing Trust Fund

We support a national affordable Housing Trust Fund. The HTF would be a new source of revenue to assist in the production of new affordable housing and the rehabilitation of existing housing. Ideally, an affordable housing trust fund would provide a permanent, ongoing source of revenue that is not taken from an existing federal resource.

• The trust fund should provide housing for families with incomes below 80 percent of Area Median Income.
• Grantees receiving HTF funds should be required to match the federal funds.
• The use of funds should be flexible to ensure compatibility with other federal housing programs.
• Preference should be given for projects that use energy efficiency standards and green building principles.
• One goal is to use up to 25 percent of the funds to create affordable rental and ownership units.
• Multi-family rental housing should have an affordability requirement attachment. This would determine the number of years the unit must remain affordable. We support a 50-year affordability requirement for these projects.
• We envision the trust fund to be distributed to states and localities through a formula allocation. States and localities would, in turn, distribute the funds, similar to many federal block grant programs.