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Senator
Tom Daschle, Senator Tim Johnson, and Representative John Thune
have given much needed sponsorship to an important piece of housing
legislation, H.R. 951 and its counterpart, S. 677.
This is a big step for South Dakota in moving toward increased purchase
price limits for SDHDA's First-time Homebuyer Program. These
increased purchase price limits would open the door for many more
South Dakotans, giving them the opportunity for affordable homeownership.
Our work is not done though. The next step is to continue
to encourage Senator Daschle and members of the Senate Finance Committee
to move forward with another Tax Bill this year and ensure it includes
the language contained in H.R. 951 and its identical companion bill
S. 677.
In addition to addressing the Purchase Price Limit issue, the Bill
would also allow us to use the greater of area or statewide median
income in establishing income and rent limits for the Housing Tax
Credit Program. Both of these proposals are revenue neutral
and would have no impact on the federal budget.
The proposal would also allow us to recycle prepayments from mortgages
backed by Mortgage Revenue Bonds that are more than 10 years old,
increasing our flexibility to provide the lowest possible interest
rate to First-time Homebuyers.
All three of these issues will bring significant benefits to South
Dakota in offering affordable housing opportunities to our residents.
I believe that a second Tax Bill and the inclusion of these initiatives
can be included yet this year.
I want to thank Rep. Thune, Sen. Daschle and Sen. Johnson for their
support of H.R. 951 and S. 677 and encourage you to do the same.
Our strong Congressional presence, along with all our fellow housing
and lending organizations here in the state, make affordable housing
a success in South Dakota.
Dar
Baum, Executive Director
SDHDA
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