National and local leaders in and out of New York continue to applaud Ways and Means Chairman Congressman Charles Rangel for the tax provisions that he crafted into the nation's news housing law. The newly signed legislation will help finance more affordable housing units, extend more tax credits for first-time homebuyers & provide other measures to strengthen housing market & stem tide of foreclosures.

Below is a cross-section of those reactions:

"Because of the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, at-risk borrowers will be able to keep their homes by refinancing their mortgages into safe and more affordable government-insured mortgages. The measure also provides funds to New York State and its localities to purchase and renovate foreclosed properties in our most impacted areas. This initiative will help New York stabilize at-risk communities endangered by abandoned foreclosed homes....I want to thank Senator Charles Schumer and Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel and the entire New York delegation for their leadership on this issue and their hard work in making this bill a reality.

New York State Governor David Paterson

“This landmark legislation provides a wide ranging set of tools to address the foreclosure crisis in New York City and cities across the country. Congressman Rangel’s leadership was central to producing a bill that will keep people in their homes, stabilize neighborhoods impacted by foreclosures, and preserve and expand our supply of affordable housing. New York City has learned from firsthand experience that rehabilitating distressed properties can stabilize entire neighborhoods. The neighborhood stabilization grants included in this bill will bolster efforts underway to turn around the New York City neighborhoods most hurt by foreclosures. The bill also makes changes to tax credit programs that will allow cities to make more effective use of the low-income housing tax credit and housing bonds. These changes and the inclusion of an additional $11 billion in tax-exempt bond authority will result in thousands of additional affordable housing units being built across the City.”

Commissioner Sean Donovan
New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development

"This is a tremendously significant piece of legislation. Not only will it bring help to homeowners at risk of foreclosure, and to communities hard-hit by the crisis, it will also expand the tools and resources available to develop affordable rental housing, by making tax credit investment more attractive and expanding tax-exempt mortgage bonding authority. It also creates, in the Housing Trust Fund, the first new federal housing production program in a generation. LISC looks forward to working with government and local partners to implement the solutions and programs contained in this bill."

Denise Scott
Managing Director
Local Initiatives Support Organization (LISC)
New York City

"Passage of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund represents a re-invigorated commitment by Congress to affordable housing- both in terms of preservation and new construction. It is critical that this commitment be paired with companion policy initiatives that ensure the Fund will be used in a way that serves families most in need of decent, safe and affordable housing."

Dina Levy
Director of Organizing and Policy
Urban Housing Assistance Board

"The National Housing Trust Fund provisions of this bill will provide tenants and their allies with a vital new resource to preserve rapidly depleting affordable housing to ensure that New York's neighborhoods are stable, diverse communities with affordable housing for all - not only for the wealthy. Recognizing that construction of new housing alone cannot solve the housing crisis, Congress took the right step to allocate funds to preserve existing affordable housing."

Patrick Coleman
Tenants & Neighbors

“House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel has once again demonstrated his deep commitment to providing affordable housing help to those who need it most. Because of the Chairman’s leadership, the housing stimulus legislation signed into law significantly expands and strengthens two of the most effective federal housing programs—the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and tax-exempt Housing Bonds—and the ability of State Housing Finance Agencies to put these resources to work on some of the toughest affordable housing challenges our country has ever faced.”

Barbara J. Thompson
Executive Director
National Council of State Housing Finance Agencies

"This new legislation will not only help the home owners recover but will put into place a system for the preservation of affordable and public housing in the United States."

Reginald H. Bowman
President
City Wide Council of Presidents New York City Housing Authority

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