NEW YORK STATE RURAL ADVOCATES

President Donald Trump’s administration released its FY 2019 federal budget proposal on Monday (2/11/2018) and as with his 2018 budget; the President proposes to slash affordable housing and community development programs.  Trump would zero out the HOME Partnership Program, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and the National Housing Trust Fund.  At USDA Rural Development the budget eliminates funding for the Section 502 direct mortgage loan program, Section 504 loans and grants, Water and Wastewater grants and guarantees and Community Facility Loans.  The list of cuts and program eliminations goes on and on but as was the case with the President’s 2018 budget, Congress is expected to ignore the President’s proposal.   (A table is appended to the end of this article with 2017 adopted budget and 2018 budget proposals from the Senate and House).

As of this writing, Congress and the President have our federal government operating on the fourth of a series of Continuing Resolutions (CR) that generally funds the government at 2017 levels.  Both Houses of Congress now believe that they are closing in on a deal for a FY 2018 budget that would cover the period October 1, 2017 through September 2018.  In adopting the current CR, Congress agreed to lift the 2011 Budget Control Act limits allowing defense spending to increase by $80 billion and domestic spending to rise by $63 billion in FY18.   This step was not assured but was absolutely necessary if they were going to avoid deep cuts in a range of domestic spending including HUD and USDA programs.  Advocates should be watching as the Congress attempts to negotiate an FY 18 budget by early next month.  Generally, housing advocates would favor the Senate’s approach to the budget over the House proposal.

Meanwhile, the recently adopted federal tax bill and the Cuomo administration’s proposed FY 19 New York State budget contain serious challenges for the development of affordable rental housing.  While housing advocates were successful in lobbying for the continuation of the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), Private Activity Bonds and their associated 4% tax credits in the tax bill, the value of these tax credits will be somewhat diminished as the corporate tax rate falls from 35% to 21%.  The net result is that New York’s commitment to invest $2.55 million in affordable housing will leverage less in private equity investment than would have been the case under the previous tax law.

Further diminishing the leverage of state housing capital, Governor Cuomo proposes to defer claims for the State Low Income Housing Credit (SLIHC) for two years.  While this action does not stop the allocation of SLIHC it is expected to cool the interest of investors and result in a reduced amount of equity that developers will raise through the sale of the credits.

Below is the table that NYS Rural Advocates will be using to track progress towards the FY 2018 and FY 2019 federal budget.  Once again, we would like to thank Rapoza Associates and the National Rural Housing Coalition for this template.