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Congressman
Meehan on Housing and Development
Affordable
Housing:
Buying
a home is how many families build a
nest-egg and create wealth to pass from one generation
to the next. However,
in our region, affordable housing has become much harder to
find. Congressman Meehan is working to expand the
opportunities for working families to purchase a home.
Affordable
Housing Trust Fund
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On
March 5, 2003, Meehan joined with U.S. Rep. Bernard
Sanders (I-VT) to introduce the National Affordable
Housing Trust Fund Act (H.R. 1102)
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Trust
fund financing would spur the development, rehabilitation,
and preservation of decent, safe, and affordable housing
for low-income families.
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The
program’s goal is to provide 1,500,000 units of housing
nationally over the next 10 years.
Affordable
Housing Production Tax Credit (“Renewing the Dream Tax
Credit Act”)
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In
the 108th Congress, Meehan
cosponsors the Renewing the Dream Tax Credit Act, H.R. 839, which
sought to expand
home-ownership opportunities for lower-income families.
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The
bill would establish a tax credit for the development or
rehabilitation of homes for sale to low-income buyers in
targeted areas.
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States
would make the tax credit available for home building
projects in economically-distressed communities, and for
purchase by families with incomes below the area’s
median level.
Weatherization
and low-income energy assistance
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The
federal Weatherization Assistance Program and Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) are vital tools
for making home-ownership more affordable.
These programs are particularly important for the
regions of the northeast and mid-west where energy prices
are higher than other areas of the country.
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For
information on Meehan’s efforts as the co-Chair of the
bipartisan Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition to
meet the unique needs of our region, visit the
Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition issues
page.
Rental
Assistance:
Programs
to expand home-ownership are critical, but families also need
opportunities to find decent, affordable rental housing.
Chief among our tools at the federal level to provide
affordable rental housing to low-income households and reduce
homelessness is the Section 8 Housing Voucher program
Section 8 Program
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The
Section 8 program is among the most powerful tools we have
to prevent homelessness.
Named for Section 8 of the United States Housing Act,
“Section 8" is really two programs: the voucher
program and the project-based program.
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The
Section 8 program began in 1974 primarily as a project-based
rental assistance program.
In the early 1980s, Congress created vouchers as a
new form of assistance.
Today, vouchers — which give rental assistance to 2
million families — are the primary form of assistance
provided under Section 8, although over one million units
still receive project-based assistance.
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Vouchers,
which local public housing authorities administer, are
portable subsidies that low-income families can use to lower
their rents in the private market.
The
White House sought a cut in Section 8 voucher assistance in
its budget request to Congress for 2005.
This cut would have reduced the number of families
receiving assistance by 250,000, including 8,617 vouchers in
Massachusetts.
Meehan
and others wrote to Congressional Appropriators seeking
funding to be restored for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers
(Click here
to read Meehan’s letter; requires Adobe Acrobat, click
here to download). Ultimately
Congress defeated the President’s Section 8 cut, and
actually gave the program a funding boost from the $19.2
billion provided in 2004 to approximately $20 billion in 2005.
Terrorism
Insurance:
A
federal backstop against massive financial losses above what the
insurance industry can cover is critical to ensuring that
domestic development enterprises do not grind to a halt.
Terrorism
Risk Insurance
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In
the 108th Congress, Meehan cosponsored legislation, H.R. 4772,
to protect insurance policy-holders and assist
the insurance industry to recover after the attacks of
September 11, 2001.
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Congress
passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act in 2002 (TRIA) as a
tool to stabilize financial markets after the attacks of
September 11, 2001. However,
TRIA is scheduled to expire in December 2005, unless it is
reauthorizized.
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