Elections have consequences. With the election of Joe Biden as President, the consequences for the affordable housing industry are likely to be very positive and will at the least put an end to the ambivalent - and even hostile - approach that the Trump administration has taken toward affordable housing during the past four years.
The incoming administration has presented a detailed and comprehensive blueprint for how it will approach the housing affordability problem for the next four years. Following are some of the major elements of the plan, with a focus on affordable rental housing.
Most of these proposals will require Congressional action, so the issue of who controls Congress is no small thing. Obviously, if the Democrats win both the Georgia Senate seats in the January 5 runoff election, the chance for passage of Biden’s plan increases. However, even if Republicans retain the Senate, there is strong support for affordable housing. Susan Collins of Maine was re-elected. She heads up the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing & Urban Development (THUD) and is a strong advocate for affordable housing. In fact, it has been the Republican Senate, along with the Democratic House, that has prevented many of the draconian cuts to affordable housing favored by the Trump Administration.
Impact on Agencies
As with any change in administrations, the top leadership of both HUD and Rural Development will change. An additional factor is that during the past four years, many agency professionals have retired or resigned; these positions are harder to replace than the political appointees. Having said that, appointment of qualified leadership can go a long way in attracting qualified professionals and retaining those that are there. President Elect Biden has not yet named his choices to head HUD and Agriculture, but a number of names have been floated:
Any of the named individuals would result in immediate improvement in the morale at HUD, which has deteriorated under the leadership of Ben Carson. Regardless of who is selected to head HUD, some initiatives of the Trump/Carson era will certainly be rolled back, including (1) the anti-Transgender rule changes to the Equal Access Rule, (2) changes to the Affirmative Fair Housing Plan requirements, (3) the changes to the Disparate Impact Rules, and (4) elimination of the proposal to force mixed-status immigrant families to separate or face eviction from HUD-assisted housing.
As for the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the rural housing programs, former Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota appears to be the front runner. She has strong moderate credentials and would likely be supported in the Senate - even by Republicans.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been pushing Representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH). Fudge is the top candidate among progressives, and currently chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition and has been a strong critic of USDA budget cuts.
A longer shot is Representative Cheri Bustos (D-Il), who chairs the democrats campaign arm. She is also on the House Agriculture Committee but her seat is in a vulnerable district and could go to a Republican in a special election. For this reason, her selection seems unlikely.
In the not-to-distant future, the efforts to revise America’s approach to affordable housing will begin. It is certain that greater priority will be given to affordable housing over the next four years than during the most recent four years.
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