2025 Reflections from the Hill

Last week, Housing Partnership Network members gathered in DC for our annual policy meeting. We then took to the Hill, and HPN members communicated our policy priorities to 91 Congressional offices from both sides of the aisle including staff of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. These are some of the key messages that we delivered.

• HPN members placed a strong emphasis on our top three priorities for the expected tax package: the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act; the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act; and the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act. We thanked original co-sponsors of AHCIA including Representatives LaHood (IL-R) and DelBene (WA-D) and Senators Young (IN-R) and Cantwell (WA-D).
• HPN members reinforced the importance of the programs administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) and underscored the bipartisan nature of the community finance field. We thanked those who have communicated about the value of CDFIs and stood up for the CDFI Fund, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (AR-R) and Senate Community Development Finance Caucus Co-Chairs Mike Crapo (ID-R) and Mark Warner (VA-D).
• We communicated about the essential role that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plays in addressing housing affordability and the foundational importance of the rental assistance program. Many HPN members expressed their concern that dramatic staffing and budgetary cuts at HUD will make it far more difficult to address the housing cost crisis.
• HPN coordinated with the National NeighborWorks Association (NNA) to provide our members with information about the value and impact of NeighborWorks America.
• In every meeting, we reminded Members of Congress and their staff that on an issue as critical as housing they should step back from partisan rhetoric and listen to housing practitioners about what will actually work. We know that this includes reducing regulatory barriers and increasing federal resources for housing production and affordability.

I want to share some key take aways about what we heard.

• We were encouraged to learn more about a meaningful bipartisan effort in the House Financial Services Committee to address housing. Congressman Flood (R-NE), the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance is working with the Ranking Member, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), to gather public input on a potential reauthorization of HOME and CDBG. HPN submitted this letter in response to the bipartisan request for comments.
• We were similarly encouraged to hear directly from Senator Tim Scott that housing is a top priority in the Senate Banking Committee and that bipartisan action is possible.
• Rank and file members clearly understand that the country is facing a housing cost crisis and that there is a pressing need to advance housing production and affordability. We heard openness to bipartisan solutions in Republican and Democratic offices alike, which is reflected, for example, in the broad bipartisan support for including the AHCIA in any eventual tax package. We also heard, in office after office on both sides of the aisle, a lack of clarity about the direction that Republican leadership and the Administration will take on key issues, including the critical tax reconciliation bill.
• We were disappointed to hear some majority staff promote negative narratives about affordable housing, including associating housing programs with fraud and claiming that there was no need for additional federal resources because federal housing programs are duplicative and inefficient. We encouraged them to balance their messaging about housing and recognize how lives are transformed and regional economies are buoyed by federal investments to promote housing affordability.

At the end of last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the President’s first budget of this term. It included proposals that would tear down the long-established, bipartisan public private partnership around housing and community development, including significant cuts to all rental assistance programs and the CDFI Fund among many other federal line items. If enacted, the President’s budget would reduce the production of affordable housing to a trickle and result in the eviction of hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled citizens that benefit from Section 8 assistance.

The budget document sharply contradicts the tone and stated positions of most Congressional offices with which HPN engaged, including most Republicans. We know that the President’s budget is often a messaging document and bears little resemblance to the ultimate Congressionally approved budget. We will be watching closely to see whether the Congressional budget reflects the OMB’s radical vision.

As “housers” who utilize federal resources to produce and preserve affordable housing, it is not enough to just do the work. We need to communicate about the value of our work and make the case for ongoing public investment to promote housing production and affordability.

• We need to remind policymakers that access to affordable housing is essential to a vibrant labor market and healthy regional economies.
• We need to promote positive narratives about how federal housing investments change lives and open access to opportunity.
• We also need to warn policymakers of the risks and consequences of tearing down the public private partnership that is the foundation of the housing and community development sector.
• Finally, we need to thank policymakers who take tangible steps to craft sensible, bipartisan housing policy in a time when it is extremely difficult to do.

Housing Partnership Network will continue to support our members to engage with federal policymakers, including during times of Congressional recess when elected officials will be in their districts.