April 15, 2019

Brown Announces More Than $6,000,000 In Affordable Housing Funds For Ohio

Funds Released Following Brown’s Demands


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – announced that Ohio will receive $6,190,138 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create and preserve affordable housing. The funds were awarded through the national Housing Trust Fund, which aims to create and preserve safe affordable housing for low-income households and families experiencing homelessness.

“Stable housing is the foundation for opportunity in life.  Investing in safe, affordable housing, means workers can live in the communities they serve, seniors can remain in their communities, and children have a stable place to learn and grow,” Brown said.

The national Housing Trust Fund, created in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, is funded by contributions from Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Following inexplicable delays in the release of these funds by the Trump Administration’s acting GSE regulator, Brown demanded that the Administration quickly disburse the funds so they can be used to create and preserve affordable housing.

Ohio’s affordable housing providers can use this funding for activities including: property acquisition, site improvements and development hard costs, demolition, relocation assistance, financing costs, and operating cost assistance for rental housing.  After its creation, the Housing Trust Fund was not consistently funded as intended, but, in December 2014, following requests from Brown, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin regular contributions.  

 

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