A Nationwide Grassroots Push

With the full Senate expected to vote on its version of the stimulus legislation next week, NAHB is coordinating a national grassroots push with our local and state HBAs to call on Congress to take immediate steps to revive housing and the economy. We are asking EOs to contact their builders and to make group visits early next week to their local congressional offices.

Builders need to deliver the following message to their Representatives and Senators: The economy will not get back on track unless we address the underlying cause of the economic crisis – namely falling home values. Congress must take dramatic action to show home buyers that it is ok to get back into the marketplace. Until this is done, we will not dig ourselves out of the recession.

Specifically, we are urging the full Senate to enhance the home buyer tax credit by:

• Extending its effective date until Dec. 31, 2009 in order to give it time to work
• Allowing home buyers to use the credit at closing.
• Increasing its dollar amount to at least $10,000 in order to encourage buyers to get off the fence.
• Making the tax credit available to all home buyers.

NAHB is also advocating for below-market interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for homes purchased in 2009 as a means of further stimulating housing demand.

Since the House has already passed its bill, House members should be urged to support the tax credit enhancements listed above when the legislation goes to a House-Senate conference.

Resources to help you prepare for your local congressional visits can be found on the NAHB Web site in the members-only section by clicking here. They include our latest Legislative Alert, talking points, economic information and a sample letter to the editor.

To further keep up the pressure, NAHB is calling on all members of the housing community to weigh in again with your federal lawmakers by clicking here and urging them to support any amendment to expand and enhance the home buyer tax credit. We also urge you to call your members of Congress at 1-866-924-NAHB (6242) and deliver the same message.

Other Actions Taken This Week

• Prior to the full House vote on the stimulus bill earlier this week, NAHB issued an updated grassroots alert stating that the House legislation fails to adequately address the housing sector. To make the stimulus bill truly effective, NAHB called on its members to contact their Representatives and urge them to increase the credit amount to at least $10,000, extend the eligibility period from June 30, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009, allow the credit to be used at the time of closing and make it available to all home buyers.
  
  
• NAHB sent a letter to every House member on Jan. 26 urging the chamber to enhance the effectiveness of  the home buyer tax credit by eliminating its repayment requirement, increasing the credit amount to at least $10,000, extending the eligibility period through the end of 2009 and allowing home buyers to use the credit at closing.
  
  
• A letter was also sent to members of the Senate Finance Committee on stimulus proposals regarding the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).  Noting that the LIHTC is the most important program for the production of affordable housing, NAHB urged lawmakers to:

                    o Provide additional short-term subsidy resources for gap financing of LIHTC 
                        projects
                    o Bring individual investors back into the LIHTC investment market
                    o Make the LIHTC a refundable tax credit
                    o Expand the LIHTC carry back rule from one year to five years
                    o Enhance and diversify the pool of future LIHTC investors

NAHB actions during IBS week, January 19-24:

• NAHB issued a grassroots call to action with the stimulus bill moving in Congress. As the Senate Finance Committee prepared to consider the tax component of the stimulus bill on Jan. 27, NAHB urges its members to contact Finance Committee members by calling 1-866-924-NAHB (6242)  and urge them to enhance the effectiveness of the home buyer tax credit. More than 1,000 phone calls were sent to Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to extend the eligibility period to Dec. 31, 2009, increase the home buyer tax credit amount to at least $10,000 and allow the credit to be used when a buyer closes on a home.
  
  
• NAHB also engaged in grassroots as leader of Fix Housing First, a coalition of more than 600 home building companies, organizations and manufacturers. The Fix Housing First coalition during the week of Jan. 19 sent almost 20,000 e-mails to the Senate. To keep the pressure on, NAHB and the coalition are urging members of the housing community to weigh in again with their Senators by clicking here and urging them to support any amendment to expand and enhance the home buyer tax credit.
  
  
• NAHB sent a letter to members of the Senate Finance Committee stating that the stimulus package now moving through the House of Representatives “does not go far enough to solve the current housing and economic crisis.” The House bill would repeal the recapture provision for the $7,500 first-time home buyer tax credit. NAHB called on members of the Senate panel to enhance the home buyer credit by extending its effective date until Dec. 31, 2009 in order to give it time to work; monetizing the credit so that buyers will have the opportunity to make use of the credit at the closing table; and increasing its dollar amount to at least $10,000 in order to encourage buyers to get off the fence. To keep our members updated on the latest developments on Capitol Hill, NAHB Chairman Joe Robson read the letter to the board members during their Jan. 22 meeting.

For more information on how to get involved in the national grassroots campaign, contact Molly Murray at 800-368-5242, x8282. To learn more about NAHB's stimulus priorities, contact Greg Brown at x8421.