Policy Priorities

Our Policy Priorities

• Defend core federal programs that build affordable housing and develop vibrant communities;
• Advance other policies as opportunities arise;
• Pursue regulatory and administrative changes for key issues; and
• Provide thought leadership and development of innovative policy solutions. 
• Download a printer-friendly version of the 2012 Enterprise Policy Priorities

Defend core federal programs that build affordable housing and develop vibrant communities

Enterprise’s Top Four Policy Priorities

• Protect the Housing Credit.  Enterprise leads the Affordable Rental Housing A.C.T.I.O.N. Campaign, a coalition of over 350 organizations throughout the country to preserve the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the nation’s most successful affordable rental housing production program. Through public-private partnerships, the Housing Credit has leveraged greater than $75 billion in private equity capital to help finance more than 2.5 million homes since 1987. Enterprise also promotes legislation to maintain the maximum possible amount of private equity capital in affordable housing financed through the Housing Credit.
• Preserve Capacity Building Resources. Enterprise is a leading advocate for the Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing program (Section 4). The Section 4 program ensures that community-based organizations have adequate resources to create and sustain jobs, adapt to new socioeconomic challenges, increase housing production, and preserve the vitality and affordability of existing housing developments nationwide. Since 1993, Enterprise has distributed over $82 million to more than 1,200 community development organizations throughout the country.
• Safeguard the HOME Program.  In close collaboration with national partners, Enterprise will work to preserve the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, a vital and unique source of financing for numerous affordable housing developments—many of which would not be possible without HOME assistance. HOME flexibly works with and supports many critical federal housing programs, making it financially feasible to build and sustain housing for the homeless, seniors, people with disabilities and other low-income people.
• Preserve Existing Affordable Housing.  The project-based Section 8 rental assistance (PBRA) program provides affordable homes for more than 1.2 million households. In partnership with other national, state and local organizations, Enterprise works to ensure full funding for this important program.

Advance other policies as opportunities arise

• Provide More Flexibility to Project Base Vouchers. Section 8 voucher reform legislation provides important opportunities to reduce administrative burdens in the project -based voucher (PBV) program, significantly strengthening the ability of local organizations to serve vulnerable populations.
• Promote Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Development.  Enterprise supports efforts to promote the financing oftransit-oriented affordable housing and community development projects.
• Reauthorize the New Markets Tax Credit. This important resource stimulates economic growth in low-income neighborhoods and rural communities through tax incentives for qualified investments in commercial and mixed-use developments. Through coordinated efforts with key stakeholders, Enterprise will continue to educate Congress and the Administration about the value of the New Markets Tax Credit to attain the reauthorization, long-term extension, or permanence of the program.
• Support Policies Maintaining a Liquid and Robust Multifamily Housing Finance Market. Enterprise co-leads the Community Capital Coalition, a broad coalition of national organizations advocating for policies focused on the financing needs of low-income communities. The Obama Administration and Congress have committed to substantially reforming the housing finance system, but no definitive action has been taken in the three years since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered conservatorship. In 2012, Enterprise will continue to work with industry partners to elevate multifamily housing finance issues in the larger debate, and ensure that reform measures adequately support a robust and liquid multifamily finance market.
   

Pursue regulatory and administrative changes for key issues

• Promote Green Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities. Enterprise is a leader in the green developmentfield, having created the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, the first national framework for building healthy, efficient, environmentally smart affordable homes.  In support of this work, Enterprise will continue to urge the adoption of the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria and equivalent green building rating systems in all federally-funded housing programs. Enterprise will also work to remove regulatory barriers to financing and implementing green, sustainable and transit-oriented development, including reforming utility allowance calculations to account for greater efficiency and encouraging coordination between transit and community development investments.
• Support Non-Profit Community Development and Housing Organizations. Enterprise recognizes the crucial role played by the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, and the immense potential of the new CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. The CDFI Fund, housed in the Department of the Treasury, strengthens and expands the capacity of financial institutions to provide capital, credit, and other services to underserved populations and communities. Enterprise is actively engaged with industry partners to ensure the thoughtful, effective implementation of the Bond Guarantee Program. This program will provide up to $1 billion annually, through 2014, of long-term capital for a wide range of community and economic development purposes.
• Preserve Public Housing. Enterprise supports efforts to preserve existing affordable housing through legislative initiatives such as the Rental Assistance Demonstration, allowing Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) to leverage private equity and recapitalize their housing portfolios.
• Advance Holistic Community Development Policies. Enterprise supports programs such as HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, which coordinates investments in housing, education, economic opportunities and other critical elements of strong communities. This holistic approach transforms neighborhoods and the lives of its residents, offering the tools and resources for a healthier, more stable future; Enterprise has partnered with numerous grant award winners across the country.  Additionally, Enterprise will work with federal agencies to identify ways to better integrate housing with services to serve vulnerable populations.
   

Provide thought leadership and development of innovative policy solutions

• Developing solutions to the foreclosure crisis. Helping communities address the blight of vacant and abandoned properties caused by foreclosures is an important priority for Enterprise. Enterprise promotes neighborhood stabilization strategies that leverage public, private, and state and local resources. In 2012, Enterprise will focus on developing creative and practical solutions that not only solve the immediate crisis, but also lay the foundation for a healthier housing market in the long term.  Enterprise will continue to chair the National Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Stabilization Task Force, a cross-industry group of local and national organizations working to address the impacts of the foreclosure crisis on communities.
• Researching the single-family rental market. In the short term, converting foreclosed properties into affordable rental homes is a way to reduce excess vacant and foreclosed housing inventory and stabilize local housing markets. Enterprise will make policy recommendations for the Real Estate-Owned (REO) Rental program that ensure that bulk sales of REO do not further degrade neighborhoods. Over the longer term, improved knowledge of the location, quality, and affordability of the single family rental stock will help identify potential access to opportunity in communities often thought to exclude renters.
• Analyzing Housing Affordability and Access to Credit. Both owners and renters deserve a home that they can afford. Enterprise will analyze housing finance reform proposals and evaluate their potential impact on the affordability of rental units and mortgages alike. Enterprise will also publish research on housing finance reform topics of concern to the organization and its partners that must be addressed in the context of comprehensive reform.
• Educating Policy Makers about the impact of federal housing resources on families and communities. As a well-respected organization with a long track record of successful investment in affordable housing and community development, Enterprise is uniquely situated to not only inform existing policy debates but to take the lead on framing and advancing effective, new public policy solutions. Such framing and research will broaden support for the range of tools needed to create communities of opportunity for low- and moderate-income people.  Enterprise will provide policy makers and advocates with a more nuanced understanding of the needs of communities and supply and demand dynamics.  Such information will help promote improvements to existing programs, the development of additional policy tools, and the creation and expansion of innovative financial products supporting affordable housing and community development.