It was a difficult and sometimes tumultuous legislative session with the conviction and sentencing of the Speaker of the House, the resignation of another legislator under allegations of improper conduct, and a significant battle over how to pay for Medicaid relief for counties and the challenges of a fast growing state.
There was a significant coalition formed around addressing the state’s infrastructure needs, and we chose to join the Campaign for Housing Carolina to that effort. While not ultimately successful in generating all of the funding requested for the different issues (including housing), the Partnership for NC’s Future did elevate affordable housing as an important infrastructure issue to the public and the General Assembly.
As noted in last week’s Housing Update, the final budget agreement demonstrates that the leadership of the House and Senate do not yet see housing issues as important as other growth/infrastructure issues. However, we had significant support among House and Senate members for increasing the Housing Trust Fund during the Committee process, and have a good base of legislative champions to build upon in the next session.
While the Housing Trust Fund ultimately received less funding than the year previously for the first time in three years, it did receive an increase in its recurring appropriation for the first time since securing the initial $3 million many years ago. We were disappointed to see a cut in the Housing 400 program, but are hopeful with two years of demonstrated impact we increase funding next year. We advocated hard for an expansion in the Home Protection Pilot program and for its funding to shift to recurring but were unable to do so because of requested cuts to Committee budgets.
A quick recap of the funding results the NC Housing Coalition worked on:
Recurring (R) funding means it will be present in the next budget going forward. Non-recurring (NR) means the funding is one-time only for this particular budget.
--Operating Subsidy for Housing 400 Initiative (affordable accessible rental units targeted to persons with disabilities) - $3.5M (Recurring) –’07 & $4.5M (R) –‘08
--NC Housing Trust Fund - $5M (R) increase for total of $8M (R) & $7.5M (Non-Recurring) for Housing 400 Initiative - TOTAL - $15.5M
--Home Protection Pilot Program - $1.5M (NR)
NCHC also worked to support funding for the items below as part of its legislative advocacy:
3 positions with HHS to staff Housing & Homelessness work - $248,341 (R)
2 Migrant Housing Inspectors added - $124,000 (R)
HOME Match reduced by $142,528
Landloss Prevention Project - $350,000 (R)
NC Community Development Initiative - $3M (R)
NC Association of CDCs - $750,000 (R)
NC Institute of Minority Economic Development - $1.5M (R)
NC Minority Support Center - $3M (R)
Important Housing Bills that Passed:
These bills were all supported by the NC Housing Coalition. We have highlighted the organizations who led the advocacy efforts and are most responsible for their passage. Click on the link to view each bill.
SB 1466 “Migrant Housing Health/Safety”
Presented to the Governor 7/24/07
This bill was the result of several years work by the Farmworker Advocacy Network and brings important improvements to farmworker housing standards as the NCDOL’s inspection and enforcement processes. Congratulations to FAN and the NC Justice Center for all of their work on getting this bill through!
HB 313 “Identify Loan Originator”
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2007&BillID=H313
Signed by the Governor 7/5/07
Requires the name of the loan originator, if any, to appear on the deed of trust. The rational behind the legislation was that it should make it easier to discover bad actors in the market if the originators name is on the deed of trust. While not led by consumer advocates, this bill was supported by the advocacy community and is seen as a positive step in consumer protection.
HB 817 “Residential Mortgage Fraud Act”
Signed by the Governor 7/4/07
Creates a new definition of Residential Mortgage Fraud intended to make it easier to bring cases for fraud related to home mortgages. While not led by advocates this bill was supported by the advocacy community and is seen as a positive step in reducing fraud and foreclosures.
HB 947 “NC Foreclosure / Landlord Tenant Laws”
Presented to the Governor 8/1/07
This legislation protects tenants who live in a property going through foreclosure. Currently, there is no requirement that tenants be informed that a foreclosure is pending. HB 947 requires that the tenant receive the notice of a foreclosure sale, which will describe the “order for possession” process and inform the tenant that she may terminate her rental agreement. This bill also allows the tenant to terminate their lease by giving proper written notice to the landlord. Congratulations to Bill Rowe from the NC Justice Center for his success on this bill.
HB 1374 “Protect Homeowners” / Reduce Foreclosure”
Presented to the Governor 8/1/07
This legislation is designed to help North Carolina Home Owners avoid foreclosure by making the foreclosure process fairer and by helping protect homeowners from abusive mortgage loan servicing companies that misapply mortgage payments, charge illegal fees, and mishandle escrow accounts on home loans. The legislation requires loan servicers to notify homeowners of any fees charged on the loan and provide a full accounting of how payments are handled and fees accessed. HB 1374 also makes the foreclosure process fairer by requiring servicers to give a detailed accounting of the sums claimed to be owed at foreclosure and by giving homeowners better information about their rights in the foreclosure process. Finally, the legislation reverses two recent NC Supreme Court decisions that make it harder for borrowers to sue for illegal lending practices. Congratulations to Al Ripley from the NC Justice Center for his success on this bill.
HB 1817 “Protect Consumers / Covered Loans”
Presented to the Governor 8/2/07
This legislation is designed to protect North Carolinians from predatory mortgage lending practices that increase foreclosure. The legislation improves existing NC predatory lending laws by limiting broker fees that encourage brokers to “steer” borrowers into more expensive, higher rate, home loans, and, improves the duties mortgage brokers owe their clients. The legislation creates new borrower protections intended to protect borrowers from abusive adjustable rate mortgage loans and other lending practices that have contributed to the number of loans being foreclosed on today. These additional protections include a prohibition on prepayment penalties and a requirement that lenders determine that the borrower has the ability to repay the loan. Finally, the legislation strengthens the powers of the Commissioner of Banks. Congratulations to the Center for Responsible Lending for their success on this important bill.
HB 1499 “Increase Homestead Income Limit to 25K”
Presented to Governor 8/2/07
Increases eligibility for NC’s property tax homestead exclusion from $18,000 to $25,000 annual income and creates a “circuit breaker” for eligible tax payers where they can defer taxes greater than 4% of their income or 5% of their income if they have incomes between $25,000 and $37,500. This is an important bill to protect low and fixed income property owners in areas with rising property tax rates. Congratulations to AARP and the NC Justice Center for their success on this bill.
Bills that did not Pass but are Eligible next Session in 2008:
The NC Housing Coalition worked hard on all of these bills with Bill Rowe from the NC Justice Center and other allies where noted. While we were not successful in getting them through the General Assembly, all are eligible for the short session next spring. Click on the link to view each bill.
S 1507 “Housing Conditions/Inspections”
Status: Passed Senate and pending in House, eligible for the short session in 2008.
Establishes statewide standards for rental housing and targeted procedures for housing inspections by local governments. We worked very hard on this bill with the NC Justice Center, NC Association of Realtors, and NC Apartment Association. The bill was amended to ensure it would not interfere with important programs like the City of Greensboro’s but was blocked in the end by the NC League of Municipalities. We expect to bring this back again in the short session.
H 1700 “Prevent Displacement of Manufactured Homes”
Status: Pending in House, eligible for the short session in 2008.
Requires that residents of manufactured home parks be given a “right of first refusal” to make an offer to buy a park that is about to be sold. Also provides a tax credit to an owner who sells a manufactured home park to the residents. This is a very important bill to assist with our housing preservation strategy of converting manufactured home communities to tenant-owned or nonprofit owned communities. We are very hopeful for success in 2008 and look forward to working with Adam Rust and Peter Skillern from CRA-NC and other allies on this bill.
S 334 Fair Housing Act Amendment
Status: Pending in Senate, eligible for the short session in 2008.
Amends NC’s Fair Housing Statute to prohibit discrimination against households with members who are disabled or over age 62 solely because they receive housing assistance. We got through one committee in the Senate but were bogged down in the Senate Appropriations Committee with strong opposition at the end from the NC Apartment Association. We expect to again partner with a strong array of allies and fight for this bill again next session. Thanks especially to the Julia Leggett from the Alliance of Disability Advocates and Mary Bethel from AARP for their work with us on this bill.
H 1134 "Cleanup of Abandoned Manufactured Homes"
Status: Pending in the House, eligible for short session in 2008.
This bill will create a fund to clean up abandoned manufactured homes which are a significant cost to community redevelopment or manufactured park preservation efforts. The advocacy effort for this bill has been led by Peter Skillern of CRA-NC and has strong support. The manufactured housing industry has opposed the fee that would be added to generate the clean up fund which has kept the bill from moving forward. However at the end of the session S 1492 passed which adds funds to the NC Solid Waste Management Trustfund that can be used for clean up of abandoned manufactured homes. This appears to clear the funding barrier and we expect this bill to move successfully next session. Thanks to Peter Skillern and CRA-NC for all of there work on this bill.
S 1309 “Fairness in Property Tax Values/Lien on Manufactured Housing”
Status: Passed Senate and pending in House, eligible for the short session in 2008.
This is especially important to affordable rental properties developed with Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits. This would change the local property tax valuation from market rate to account for the rent restrictions in these developments. This bill (1) requires that rent and income restrictions on real property must be taken into account in determining the valuation of the property for tax purposes and (2) requires that a lien on manufactured housing listed as personal property shall attach to the manufactured home and to all real property of the tax payer. We are very hopeful that this bill will be successful in the next session with positive preliminary talks with the NC Association of County Commissioners and strong interest of advocacy from LIHTC developers.
Conclusion
Thank you for all of your efforts in working with us on these issues. As a Coalition we are only as strong as our membership and our ability to generate contacts to legislators in support of important housing issues. When you take the time to contact your legislator you make a real difference in elevating issues of affordable housing and increase our opportunities for success in policy-making.
A special thank you to Bill Rowe from the NC Justice Center who worked tirelessly on the multiple issues noted above. Bill is a tremendous resource for affordable housing and social justice issues in general. We are grateful to have him working with us and acknowledge how central he is to our state legislative efforts.
Now that the state legislative session has ended, we will shift to monthly Legislative Updates on Federal issues.
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