the advocacy monitor

Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

An Update from the NCIL Housing Subcommittee

Some members of the Housing Subcommittee attended the NCIL Conference in July, and met for the first time. It was fun to put faces to names! Janet Wilkinson from REACH of Dallas accepted the request to become Co-Chair of the Subcommittee along with Brian Peters of IndependenceFirst in Milwaukee. Both Mr. Peters and Darrell Christenson of ABIL in Phoenix were also elected to the NCIL Board as At-Large Members.

United for Homes Campaign

United for Homes - Camapign for the Nationaal Housing Trust FundNCIL has been requested by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition to encourage the CILs, SILCs, and other organizations to be an endorser of the United for Homes Campaign. NCIL is an endorser of this campaign.

The United for Homes campaign is centered on the proposal to fund the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) through revenue generated by modifications to the mortgage interest deduction (MID). The changes are simple: Reduce the size of a mortgage eligible for a tax break to $500,000, and convert the deduction to a 15% non-refundable tax credit. This means that more people would benefit from it, not just those taxpayers with enough income to itemize their deductions. Currently, only 24% of all taxpayers claim the MID. By converting to a credit, all homeowners with mortgages would get a tax break, not just those who have enough income to file itemized tax returns.

The NHF was established in 2008, but never received funding. This would generate approximately $230 billion over the next ten years for the NHTF that would be used to build and rehabilitate affordable rental housing for the lowest income Americans.

By law, 90% of the funds would go to rental housing, with the remainder to homeownership. All funds would need to benefit Low-Income Households, and 75% of funds must benefit households at or below 30% of Area Median Income. This makes the Trust Fund an extremely valuable resource of housing financing for people with disabilities who, as a population, have very low income.

Join NCIL in endorsing the United for Homes Campaign!