Industry Insights
An Ode to Fall
By Kaitlyn Snyder
3 min read
Fall, for me, evokes the feeling of the beginning of the end. The leaves dazzle us with one final burst of color before winter sets in. Congress starts a new fiscal year and will eventually fund the government. Cue the steady drip-drip-drip of holidays cresting with New Year’s Eve and year-end tax bills. I hope you were able to unplug for a bit before the fall heats up with Low Income Housing Tax Credit applications due, conferences to attend and an election leading into a legislative sprint to clear the decks for the next Congress.
The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association is in the thick of putting the finishing touches on our 2022 events, planning for our 2023 events, state and federal regulatory and legislative work and hiring for two positions (one policy-related and one events-related). It’s been a year of growth and change for us as we navigate past the pandemic world and enter an endemic one. We’ve been taking stock, building out our team and laying the groundwork for a successful year ahead.
We submitted comments to the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) Request for Input on Key Issues for Task Force Consideration on its Recommended Practices in Housing Credit Administration. Our comments focused on tax-exempt bonds and making sure the program is responsive to the market in which developers compete for land and buildings. Our full comments are available here, https://bit.ly/3qMiC9m. We look forward to working with NCSHA, the task force of housing agency executive directors, our members and partners to update the recommended practices over the coming months as NCSHA aims to have a new set by its Housing Credit Connect Conference in June of 2023.
Members of Congress will be hitting the campaign trail in earnest this month; it’s a great time to invite them to a groundbreaking or meet-and-greet with residents while using the opportunity to make sure their office understands the need for more affordable housing and challenges that stand in the way of building, financing and rehabbing more of it.
I can’t mention Congress without acknowledging the recent tragic passing of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-IN). As the lead Republican sponsor of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, Rep. Walorski was an advocate and champion for affordable housing and LIHTC. She advocated to enact the minimum four percent housing credit rate and was awarded the Affordable Housing Champion Award from the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition in 2021. She was a frequent speaker at affordable housing events, and willing to offer advice on building bipartisan support for affordable housing. During her nine years in Congress, Rep. Walorski served as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and as the top Republican member on the House Ethics Committee.
NH&RA offers its condolences to Congresswoman Walorski’s family and team, as well as to the families of Communications Director Emma Thomson and District Director Zachary Potts, two members of Congresswoman Walorski’s team who also passed away in the car accident.
As Congress and nature transition, our work continues. We’re excited about recent legislative and regulatory wins for affordable housing and cautiously optimistic that more are on the horizon. Expect to see a flurry of sign-on letters and action as we position ourselves for the year-end legislative sprint. Cheers to many pumpkin-spice-latte-fueled days ahead.
