Budget, Lumber Costs, Tax Extenders, Washington Housing Forum & More

We find ourselves in one of those in between times in Washington, DC.  The FY 2022 omnibus appropriations bill has been passed and signed into law and Capitol Hill now awaits the Biden Administration’s FY 2023 budget request. We sincerely hope the administration builds upon the final FY 2022 HUD appropriations spending package which included an 8% increase in funding.

On another front, last week we (HAG) participated in a call with officials from the Biden Administration on the issue of lumber costs.  Along with NAHB, NHC and AHTCC, we briefed staff from the National Economic Council, Domestic Policy Council, National Security Council and Commerce Department on the causes and effects of high lumber costs.  We want to thank Jonathan Wolf of Wendover Housing Partners for an outstanding job representing the HAG’s views on the call.  Many of the questions from staff were directed to Jonathan and he drove home how lumber pricing is hurting affordable housing production and how the administration might address the issue. This will be an ongoing dialogue and we appreciate both our colleague organizations efforts and the administration’s commitment to working on the issue.

Regarding our LIHTC agenda, we continue to press for a tax extenders package that could include restoration of the 12.5% LIHTC allocation increase from 2018 that expired on December 31, 2021.  We also have hope that discussions regarding a reconciliation package will resume soon.  We have had promising discussions with the tax writing staffs in the House and Senate as well as with Finance Chairman Wyden to this end.  A number of reports and articles have been released recently pointing to high rents and housing costs as drivers of inflation which we believe bolsters our case for inclusion of our LIHTC agenda in the reconciliation package.  We will continue to drive these points home as we advocate for our LIHTC agenda.

Finally, we want to let you know we will once again be joining with our colleagues at the AHTCC to host our Washington Housing Forum on June 15th.  The meeting will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center with a reception to follow at the Capitol View at 400.  We will be joined by officials from the Biden Administration as well as Members of Congress and congressional staff. It will be a very informative and fun day at which we hope to welcome many of you back to DC.  A formal invitation and links to register will be coming very soon but please mark your calendars for June 15th.