Housing

American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2019

The communities hit hardest by the housing crisis are facing the most difficult recovery.  In response to this, I, alongside Congressman Cedric Richmond, introduced H.R. 1737, the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2019.  The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act would help provide people with access to affordable housing, lift them out of poverty, and begin to create generational cycles of wealth.

The bill would assist people in communities who suffered the most during the housing crisis through new down payment assistance programs and giving support to families whose housing wealth was destroyed by the financial crisis.  The bill would put $10 billion into a new competitive grant program that the hardest hit communities can use to build infrastructure, parks, roads, or schools. 

The bill would also invest more than $3.5 billion in the Public Housing Capital Fund to help maintain critical affordable units and change the rules to stop the pipeline of distressed Federal Housing Administration, Fannie May, and Freddie Mac mortgages or government-owned homes to private equity firms. 

Opportunity Zones Support

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017 created a new tax incentive for investment in businesses located in distressed communities. Investors may invest directly or indirectly in businesses located in Qualified Opportunity Zones—census tracts which generally have a poverty rate of at least 20 percent—and receive a tax benefit for all gains made from such investments.

To help address the lack of affordable housing in Baltimore and Maryland, I sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin in April 2018 in support of the State of Maryland’s request to designate census tracts in the greater Baltimore region as Opportunity Zones.  There are now 149 Opportunity Zones across the state of Maryland, including 42 census tracks in Baltimore City and 10 in Baltimore County.

Living in these nominated census tracts are some of Maryland’s poorest citizens, who would benefit immensely from increased investment in their communities.  I will continue to work with Maryland officials to increase the benefits of these zones and other policies aimed at creating opportunities and investment in all of Maryland, but especially in the most underserved areas.

I understand the concern that gentrification in the form of displacement and exclusivity can easily result from these types of programs, and I share this concern wholeheartedly.  I have held and will continue to hold forums and expose as many communities as I can to the information and opportunity that flow from this and other programs to promote inclusionary investment and development.

Federal Housing Assistance and Grants

I will continue to advocate for grant dollars and federal housing assistance in Baltimore and surrounding counties. In July 2018, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) announced a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods grant to Baltimore to help transform the distressed Perkins Homes public housing project and its surrounding area into a mixed-income neighborhood for both current and new residents.

Maryland continues to receive funds from HUD’s Home Owners Preserving Equity program (HOPE) to assist homeowners in our state.  Maryland is taking applications for this program, and homeowners can get more details by visiting the HOPE website at www.mdhope.org or by calling the HOPE hotline (877) 462-7555 to find a housing counselor in their area for free counseling and assistance.

Permanently Protection Tenants at Forclosure Act of 2017

In the 115th Congress, I was pleased to be an original cosponsor of the Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2017, introduced by then-Congressman Keith Ellison.  This bill permanently restored and revived the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 (PFTA) by requiring that landlords who acquire foreclosed property give tenants 90 days’ notice after a foreclosure to move.  The PFTA also applies to tenants with Section 8 choice vouchers and extends to renters.  Prior to this extension, renters, often not knowing that their landlords were behind on mortgage payments, could be subject to eviction with only a few days’ notice in most states.

The PFTA was subsequently signed into law as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Congress passed in May of 2018.  

The PFTA is applicable to all foreclosures on all residential properties including one-unit single family homes, and it applies to judicial and nonjudicial foreclosures.