House Financial Services Committee Approves H.R. 4868

On July 28, 2010, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 4868, the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protection Act of 2010, comprehensive affordable housing legislation introduced by Chairman Barney Frank which seeks to stem the loss of affordable rental housing units across the country and prevent the displacement of low-income tenants, many of who are elderly or disabled.

Since the 1950s, HUD has subsidized about 1.7 million rental units in over 23,000 privately-owned, multi-family properties that are typically affordable to low-income tenants. Many of these units are over forty years old and in need of recapitalization. The bill includes a number of provisions intended to improve and help preserve these properties and will protect the significant investment made by the federal government in the original construction and decades of operation of housing for very low and low income tenants.

The Committee approval of this legislation is a huge step in moving these important provisions forward. Much work remains to be done, and prospects in the Senate this year are uncertain, but the Committee’s action conveys a strong endorsement of these preservation principles. House Financial Services Committee News Release is here

— Posted on 8/06/2010