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This bill — the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2019 — would spend an average of $50 billion a year in federal funding to build 3.2 million new rental units around the country, provide assistance to people who’ve been hurt by federal housing policy failures through two new targeted programs, create incentives for local governments to eliminate unnecessary land use restrictions, hold financial institutions accountable for providing access to credit for all Americans, and promote mobility by strengthening anti-discrimination laws and improving the housing voucher program. This bill’s key provisions are outlined below:

CONSTRUCTION

Specifically, this section of the bill would:

Invest $445 billion in the Housing Trust Fund (HTF; established by the 2008 Housing Economic and Recovery Act but only funded beginning a few years ago) to build, rehabilitate, and operate up to 2.1 million homes for low-income families, including in rural areas and in Indian country where housing quality is especially poor;
Invest $25 billion in the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF; which, like the HTF, was established by the 2008 Housing Economic and Recovery Act but only funded beginning a few years ago), which will be leveraged 10:1 with private capital, to build more than 835,000 new homes and develop vibrant communities for lower-income and middle-class families;
Invest $4 billion in a new Middle-Class Housing Emergency Fund, which supports construction of homes for middle-class buyers and renters where there’s a supply shortage and housing costs are rising faster than incomes;
Invest $523 million in rural housing programs to create 380,000 rentals and help 17,000 families buy homes.
Invest more than $2 billion to build or rehabilitate 200,000 homes for Native Americans and Native Hawaiians;
Invest more than $3 billion in the Public Housing Capital Fund to help maintain critical affordable units; and
Change the rules to stem the pipeline of government-owned or distressed homes to private equity firms.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

This section would aim to provide financial assistance to disadvantaged groups through:

Down payment assistance to communities historically denied mortgages by the government: The federal government denied black borrowers mortgage subsidies as late as the 1960s, stripping them of opportunities to build wealth. To address the resulting wealth gap between white and black families, the bill provides down payment grants to first-time homebuyers living in formerly redlined or officially segregated areas.
Support for families whose housing wealth was destroyed by the financial crisis: The bill would invest $2 billion to support borrowers with negative equity on their mortgages, predominantly in suburban and rural communities.

LAND USE REFORM

This section would the bill would create incentives for local governments to eliminate unnecessary land use restrictions that increase costs. Currently, local land use rules can significantly increase construction costs, making it unattractive to build housing for anyone but the richest Americans. The bill puts $10 billion into a new competitive grant program that communities can use to build infrastructure, parks, roads, or schools. To be eligible, local governments would be required to reform land use rules that restrict production of new affordable housing.

This bill would expand the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to cover more non-bank mortgage companies, promote investment in activities that help poor and middle-class communities, and strengthen sanctions against institutions that fail to follow the rules.

The bill would expand the Fair Housing Act to ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, veteran status and source of income. It would make it easier to use housing vouchers in neighborhoods with good schools and good jobs and allows tribal housing authorities to administer their own voucher programs.

ESTATE TAX

To fully offset its cost, this bill would restore the estate tax thresholds to their levels at the end of the Bush Administration and set more progressive rates above those thresholds — affecting 14,000 of the wealthiest families. Thus, were this bill to be enacted, the new estate tax thresholds would be as follows, based on the value of the estate:

Estates valued under $13 million: 55% tax
Estates valued from $13 to $93 million: $7.15 million plus 60% of the excess of the amount over $13 million
Estates valued over $93 million: $55.15 million plus 65% of the excess over $93 million

The basic exclusion amount for estate taxes would be $3.5 million, and estates valued over $1 billion would be subject to an additional 10% tax. Additionally, this bill would create special rules for grantor trusts, eliminate the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption for certain trusts, and simplify the gift tax exclusion for annual gifts.

This bill wouldn’t change current law with regard to how the HTF and CMF operate. Under current law, at least 70% of CMF funds must be used to support affordable housing projects, and no more than 10% of an affordable housing project’s costs can come from the CMF.

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Should the Feds Spend $50 Billion Per Year to Subsidize Rental Construction & Land Use Reforms?