To all our members, partners, and supporters, Grounded Solutions Network wishes you a happy New Year! This critical election year will require much of our attention to elevate the importance of housing. We are also asking you to engage in a pressing rule-making process to protect the value of the Community Reinvestment Act and to review key accomplishments in 2019 that supported the field.
Because of you all, we are energized to effect change and advocate even harder in 2020!
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Action is Needed to Ensure the Community Reinvestment Act is not Diluted.
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In mid-December, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise their regulations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA was designed to combat redlining by requiring banks to affirmatively meet community needs for credit and banking services in lower income communities. The proposed changes would dilute existing regulations, and we strongly encourage as many advocates as possible to submit public comments by mid-February. (Public comments are accepted for 60 days after the proposal is officially published in the Federal Register). Stay tuned for further guidance. For more information, read National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s blog. |
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Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Highlights Shared Equity Homeownership in his Housing Platform.
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Senator Sanders’ housing proposal includes $50 billion over 10 years for the expansion of community land trusts and other shared equity homeownership models that would result in 1 million households attaining homeownership over 25 years. While many candidates have released housing proposals, Senator Sanders is the only candidate to date that has allocated funding for CLTs and shared equity.
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Progress was Made on Increasing Access to Mortgage Financing for Shared Equity Borrowers.
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As a result of “shared equity homeownership” being incorporated into the final duty-to-serve rule, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been working in partnership with Grounded Solutions Network to increase access to mortgage financing for shared equity homeownership borrowers. Highlights from 2019 include Freddie Mac rolling out a community land trust product offering, and Fannie Mae increasing lender participation and investing in inclusionary housing research. See our new Mortgage Financing resources.
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Advocates Showed Up to Defend “Disparate Impact,” a Vital Part of Fair Housing.
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In August, HUD released a proposed rule to amend their interpretation of the Fair Housing Act’s disparate impact standard. The proposed changes would substantially limit enforcement of the 1968 Fair Housing Act by effectively making disparate impact impossible to use for challenging systemic discrimination. Grounded Solutions Network, along with over 4,000 civil rights and housing advocates, submitted comments to HUD. HUD is required to review, analyze, and rationally consider all comments to inform any development of a final rule. For more information, see Urban Institute’s blog or National Fair Housing Alliance’s blog.
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FY 2020 Budget was Passed with modest Funding Increases for Housing.
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A government shutdown was avoided on December 20th, when the President signed a $1.4 trillion spending deal to fund the entire government for FY 2020. The FY20 appropriations legislation provides $49.1 billion for HUD—an increase of $4.9 billion above the FY19 enacted level. The HOME program, CDBG, and Section 4 Capacity Building for Affordable Housing and Community Development each received a $100 million increase over FY19 levels with respective FY20 funding of $1.35 billion, $3.4 billion, and $36 million. The bill also includes enough funding to renew all existing Housing Choice vouchers and Project-Based Rental Assistance contracts. Beyond HUD, the budget provides increased or level funding for USDA programs, an increase to the CDFI fund, and an increased allocation for New Market Tax Credits. View additional details on affordable housing and community development program funding on this budget chart published by Enterprise Community Partners.
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Grounded Solutions Network advocates on behalf of our members on national, state, and local policy issues. Staff represents our members in federal policy coalitions and campaigns that include advocacy for affordable housing and community development funding, the HOME program, tax credits, fair housing and fair lending, disaster recovery programs, and opportunity zones. We have submitted dozens of public comments and sign-on letters in 2019 as well as met with numerous members of Congress to advance the field. We will continue our advocacy in 2020 and activate the field on pressing issues.
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Where we live matters.
We bring together an extensive network of partners and member practitioners from local communities who have a deep understanding of best practices in community land trusts, shared equity housing, local housing policies such as inclusionary zoning, and more.
At Grounded Solutions Network, we know what policies and strategies work to build and preserve housing opportunities, and we help communities use them.
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