Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison recently introduced a bill to reform the Mortgage Interest Deduction to make it more equitable for middle and lower income homeowners and to use the billions saved from this reform to fund affordable housing programs. We recently reported on a poll that surveyed America’s attitudes toward the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID). The…
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Congress Deal Means Both Housing Victories and Woes
While many were celebrating the coming of the New Year with friends and family, Congress was frantically trying to pass legislation to prevent the country from falling off the fiscal cliff. During the early hours of New Years, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was passed. While considered an imperfect…
Rep. Paulsen Tours Apartment for Formerly Homeless Youth
On February 22, U.S. Representative Erik Paulsen met with housing advocates, providers, and a formerly homeless young man to discuss an issue facing too many homeless students in Minnesota. This troubling issue stems from an unintended consequence of a well intended rule in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. The…
Sequestration Impacts Hit Home
Sequestration, automatic across-the-board cuts to federal defense and non-defense discretionary spending, was meant to be a disincentive for political gridlock. However, it apparently did not serve its intended purpose as federal lawmakers were not able to agree on a deficit reduction package by the March 1st deadline. Though advocates hoped Congress…
Homes for All gaining momentum at the Capitol
The Homes for All bills to help stabilize families with affordable housing, prevent homelessness, and create housing that serves our state’s workforce continue to move forward, and support is growing. Over 70 organizations have now endorsed our coalition’s legislation requesting a $50 million increase in state funding split between…
Housing and Homeless Budgets Head to Conference Committees
We are just three weeks away from the official end of legislative session, and nearly every day brings a new development at the Capitol. The 80 Homes for All organizational members and many more individual supporters have been lending their voices to ensure that thousands of low-income Minnesotans avoid homelessness…
THUD funding shortfall bad news for housing
In mid-April, the Obama administration released its 2014 budget. MHP reported that while the budget was focused solely on renewing, rather than creating, affordable housing, we were nonetheless pleased that the administration recognized the need, for the most part, to keep families in stable housing. Unfortunately, the House Committee on Appropriations recently took a very…
Complete tax reform: peril and promise for housing
In an ongoing effort to overhaul the tax code, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) made an announcement recently that the Senate would be taking a “blank state” approach to tax reform. They said that this means everything will be taken…
Shutdown + Sequestration Double Whammy
Federal budget debates have dominated 2013, particularly since the sequestration cuts went into effect in March. The conversation was elevated to a new level with the federal government shutdown on October 1. How does the shutdown – due to stalled budget negotiations and politicking – affect housing, both nationally and…
Ellison Featured In NYT Series on Affordable Housing Strategies
New York City and Minneapolis are both electing new mayors next month, along with many other cities across the U.S. How important is affordable housing to these candidates, and what programs do housing experts recommend that mayoral candidates consider? The New York Times put a spotlight on these questions with…