Jack Reed Questions Expert On Impact Of Federal Housing Trust Fund

2 days ago

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) spoke about the Federal Housing Trust Fund.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your testimony.

00:07Ms. Willis, back in 2008, I helped create the Housing Trust Fund, which is designed,

00:17as you know, to expand housing for people who are desperately looking for housing.

00:27Why do you think today the Housing Trust Fund is necessary, and how does it help low-income

00:32Americans?

00:34Thank you for the question, and also thank you for your leadership in creating the National

00:39Housing Trust Fund.

00:40The National Housing Trust Fund is incredibly important because it's one of the only federal

00:47investments that goes deep, in terms of its target, to target extremely low-income households,

00:55so again, that's households that are at 30% AMI, or poverty line.

01:02It's extremely important because without that, it's very difficult, can be very difficult

01:08to create affordable housing for that population, but the Housing Trust Fund targets deeply,

01:14and so affordable housing providers and developers are able to build affordable housing using

01:23those funds that go to their states.

01:26So it's critically important to have that level of deepness, if you will, to really

01:36target the households that really need it, affordable housing.

01:39As you probably know, we've put in legislation that would expand the resources of the Trust

01:47Fund to reach, we hope, 3 million affordable homes, and I think, again, everyone on the

01:55table has said demand is one of the key constraints, and this would really accelerate demand, so

02:01I hope we can make some progress on that.

02:04There's another program that I think is very useful, and I'm very proud to have joined

02:09Senator Brett, my colleague from Alabama, to introduce the Helping More Families Save

02:16Act.

02:17It's the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, and I've seen the results myself where meeting

02:23families who, because of this program, they can put money away, save it up, and eventually

02:32move out and move up, and we hope that we can get this passed this year.

02:40So have you seen evidence of that program and how well it works?

02:45Oh, absolutely.

02:46And so we certainly do support and have supported the Helping More Families Save Act, and again,

02:52thank you for your leadership on that as well, because it is important for, you know, it

02:57essentially helps renters living in HUD-assisted housing to save more of their hard-earned

03:03income to boost their financial stability, and so we've seen it help, you know, countless

03:11families across the country, but it really just helps families, you know, to save more

03:17rather than paying those higher rents.

03:20They can put the extra payments into an escrow account that they can use, you know, for mobility

03:26or to invest in their future.

03:28Thank you very much, and Dr. Glazer, Senator Loomis and I have another piece of legislation,

03:34which is the Property Improvement and Manufactured Homes Loan Monetization Act, but it would

03:40help families access financing for manufactured housing, and could you just generally give

03:47us an idea about how manufactured housing and ADUs support housing supply and affordability?

03:54Absolutely, thank you for the question, Senator.

03:58So yes, ADUs are one way in which communities that are averse to sort of large-scale projects

04:05can still densify, and if you ask me, I sort of tend to wish that we do more than just

04:11add ADUs, but ADUs are a potential aid, and manufactured housing is just a really inexpensive

04:18way to add an ADU to your property, and so I think policies that lean in, again, towards

04:24modular, towards manufactured housing are helpful on this precisely because ADUs are

04:30the one policy that can get through in some of our most hostile environments.

04:35Thank you very much, Doctor.

04:36Thank you all very much.

04:37Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

04:38Senator Reid, thanks for being a good example of that non-partisan approach with Senator

04:42Britt on so many important issues impacting everyday Americans.

04:46Well, I'm just sad that you're not working with me yet, but next time we'll be together.

04:49If you want to get something done, you find a very talented woman, and we have them right

04:53here.

04:54We have lots of them.

04:55Our committee's full of them.

04:56Yes.

04:57Senator Britt.

04:58Senator Britt.

Jack Reed Questions Expert On Impact Of Federal Housing Trust Fund

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