Hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services on H.R. 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007

Statement

Hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services on H.R. 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007

Opening Statement of Ranking Member Spencer Bachus - Committee on Financial Services Hearing on H.R. 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today's hearing on your legislation to establish a national affordable housing trust fund. This is obviously not the first time that this Committee has had occasion to consider this issue. In fact, it has been a recurring theme in our debates on two major pieces of legislation - GSE reform and FHA modernization - that moved through the Committee earlier this year. During those debates, Members on this side of the aisle have questioned the wisdom of diverting resources from middle class homeowners and from the surplus generated by the FHA program to fund other housing needs. While those arguments certainly apply to the legislation that is the subject of today's hearing, I want to direct my remarks this morning to a different set of concerns.

As I have previously stated, no one questions the sincerity of the Chairman's commitment to meeting the affordable housing needs of lower-income Americans, and I share his belief that for many of our citizens, those needs are currently going unmet. Mr. Chairman, we don't differ on outcomes; we differ on means. Rather than creating yet another housing bureaucracy, I believe that our focus should be on increasing efficiencies in existing programs.

In this regard, it is worth remembering that HUD already administers over 30 separate Federal programs designed to promote affordable housing opportunities for lower-income Americans, and that these programs consumed the bulk of HUD's $35 billion budget during the last fiscal year. Indeed, the affordable housing trust fund outlined in Chairman Frank's bill is modeled to a great degree on one of those HUD initiatives -- the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.

The largest federal block grant for State and local governments, HOME is designed to create affordable housing for low-income households. It is a successful program with a proven track record. Establishing a new Housing Trust Fund and promulgating new regulations and rules at HUD could take months or maybe years to properly implement. HOME is already up and running, with 50 states, 585 local governments, and 4 insular areas presently administering the program. Rather than reinventing the wheel, a better approach would be to take this opportunity to make an already successful federal program work better by using HOME to increase production and preservation of mixed-income and rental housing affordable to very low and extremely low income families.

Mr. Chairman, let me conclude by once again thanking you for holding this hearing, and thanking our witnesses for taking the time to be with us this morning. I look forward to their testimony.

Source