House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) on March 17 introduced long-awaited affordable housing preservation legislation (HR 4868). The bill would require owners of federally and state-financed housing to give HUD the first right of refusal to purchase the property and would allow owners to request project-based assistance in lieu of enhanced voucher assistance if the owner agrees to maintain affordability for 20 years.
Though NAA/NMHC strongly support many of the bill’s provisions, NAA/NMHC have chosen not to support the legislation. We expressed our concern with several of the bill’s provisions in a March 23 letter to the Committee. Specifically, the federal right of first refusal would alienate other pur-chasers, who would be forced to wait for HUD’s decision, and would affect property values. We believe that preservation is best achieved through voluntary incentives. NAA/NMHC also objected to an overly broad, punitive mechanism for HUD to withhold housing assistance payments.