$3 million should be Minnesota’s take in the first distribution round from the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). This is the estimate released February 22 by National Low Income Housing Coalition based on the coalition’s review of financial reports filed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under the NHTF statute these federally controlled mortgage institutions are mandated to annually transfer a portion of their business transaction earnings to HUD’s NHTF.
While the NHTF statute was passed in 2008, any transfer to NHTF had been suspended once the mortgage institutions fell into government receivership during last decade’s financial crisis. In late 2014 Mel Watt, the federal overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, approved instatement of the NHTF transfers from the now financially healthy institutions.
HUD has published a formula for the distribution to states of NHTF. The minimum state allocation is $3 million, the initial amount Minnesota and 31 other states will receive, estimates the coalition. In Minnesota the NHTF dollars will be distributed by Minnesota Housing through the consolidated RFP. Awards of NHTF will be used to support production or rehabilitation of rental housing for extremely low income households.
