Affordable Housing Day at the Capitol 4/22/24 - Thank you to our members in attendance who helped us advocate for affordable housing in Oklahoma.

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2024 - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Dr. Basil Gooden today announced that USDA will begin accepting applications on April 19, 2024, for financing to build new housing that will ensure year-round and seasonal domestic farmworkers have safe, modern, and affordable places to live.

This funding availability follows USDA’s recent announcement inviting applications to construct, repair and modify affordable housing units for farmworkers.

Read full stakeholder announcement.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS/OWNERS:

HB3499 – This bill will add language requiring LIHTC properties only to conduct an individualized review of all criminal history records and the impact on the household’s suitability for admission.  It requires defined criminal history screening policies that state that applicants with felony convictions may only be denied housing if an individualized review shows that the safety of residents and the property.  This policy must include criteria for lookback periods, no blanket denials and procedures for individualized reviews.  Many of our property management members have indicated that this bill is too subjective and may inadvertently lead to Fair Housing issues as it cannot be consistently applied.  This issue could also be more easily addressed through the OHFA rulemaking process rather than a state statute.   This has passed the Senate Finance Committee with new language.  Our organization was not given the opportunity to review this draft bill at any point prior to its presentation. You may CLICK HERE to read the new bill.  The bill can now hit the Senate Floor at any time. 

For those that are looking to take action, the best course is to have your staff contact every Senator by phone and email ASAP.  We recommend you do this prior to the close of business on Monday, April 15, 2024.  We also recommend that you also request Senator Treat and Senator McCortney to not schedule this bill for the Senate Floor.  CLICK HERE for contact information for all the. 

Talking points include:

• This bill will cause affordable housing owners and managers to essentially lease to any felon, regardless of the situation, for fear of being sued.
• The proposed language is too subjective, allowing for varied interpretations and risk of leading to inconsistent application.
• The cost of compliance with HB3499 that will mitigate risk to property owners and managers will have a negative effect on the production of affordable housing.  Either the rents will need to increase or fewer units will be produced to cover the administrative burden.  Applications for tax credits are highly competitive due to the limited resources and developments with the tightest budgets are the ones that win.
• Felons that meet certain objective criteria, which is currently fairly lenient, are already allowed to live tax credit developments.  Our developers are in the business of providing housing to low-income households and these developments only provide a return to the investors if the units are leased.  Property managers are already willing to lease to felons provided there is not a safety risk to other residents or the property. 
• HUD and the IRS already extremely monitor the LIHTC program.  Any proposed state statutes should not impede those rules.
• The better way to handle these changes would be the OHFA Administrative Rules process.
• The Oklahoma based affordable housing industry advocates have not been consulted in this work and the impact to their business and industry has not been taken into consideration.
• This is a very nuanced issue and this bill needs additional input from LOCAL IN-STATE stakeholders before passage.
• This could lead to reduced investor demand as investors view the felons as increased risk.  The lower demand for tax credit developments in Oklahoma will lead to lower pricing for developments and increased perm debt and increased rental rates.

When calling the Senators, a simple message with your name and a request to VOTE NO ON HB3499 is sufficient.  You may also add a succinct reason on why.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS/OWNERS: HB3499 – This bill will add language requiring LIHTC properties only to conduct an individualized review of all criminal history records and the impact on the household’s suitability for admission. It requires defined criminal history screening policies that state that applicants with felony convictions may only be denied housing if an individualized review shows that the safety of residents and the property. This policy must include criteria for lookback periods, no blanket denials and procedures for individualized reviews. Many of our property management members have indicated that this bill is too subjective and may inadvertently lead to Fair Housing issues as it cannot be consistently applied. This issue could also be more easily addressed through the OHFA rulemaking process rather than a state statute. This has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate Finance Committee meets Monday, April 8th at 2:00pm in Room 535. Click Here for committee link. CLICK HERE to view the agenda. Click Here to view all members of the Senate Finance Committee. We recommend that you contact members of the Senate Finance Committee immediately to voice your concerns.

For those that are looking to take action, the best course is to have your staff contact every Senator on the Finance Committee by phone and/or email ASAP.  CLICK HERE for contact information for all the Senators (listed under the SENATE tab).  Some submitted talking points are available here.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS/OWNERS:

HB3499 – This bill will add language requiring LIHTC properties only to conduct an individualized review of all criminal history records and the impact on the household’s suitability for admission.  It requires defined criminal history screening policies that state that applicants with felony convictions may only be denied housing if an individualized review shows that the safety of residents and the property.  This policy must include criteria for lookback periods, no blanket denials and procedures for individualized reviews.  Many of our property management members have indicated that this bill is too subjective and may inadvertently lead to Fair Housing issues as it can not be consistently applied.  This issue could also be more easily addressed through the OHFA rulemaking process rather than a state statute.   This has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and referred to the Senate Finance Committee.  The Senate Finance Committee meets Monday, April 1^st at 2:00pm.   Click Here for committee link. An agenda has yet to post.  Click Hereto view all members of the Senate Finance Committee.  We recommend that you contact members of the Senate Finance Committee immediately to voice your concerns.

For those that are looking to take action, the best course is to have your staff contact every Senator on the Finance Committee by phone and/or email today.  CLICK HERE for contact information for all the Senators (listed under the SENATE tab).  Some submitted talking points are available here.

ADDITIONAL BILL UPDATES:

HB4018 – This bill will tweak the Oklahoma Affordable Housing Act to more closely mirror the allocation of federal LIHTCs.  Any unused credits at year end may be rolled over to the following year and any returned credits may be reallocated.  This is a revenue neutral item.

This bill has passed Committee and will be referred to the Senate Floor.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS/OWNERS:

HB3499 – This bill will add language requiring LIHTC properties only to conduct an individualized review of all criminal history records and the impact on the household’s suitability for admission.  It requires defined criminal history screening policies that state that applicants with felony convictions may only be denied housing if an individualized review shows that the safety of residents and the property.  This policy must include criteria for lookback periods, no blanket denials and procedures for individualized reviews.  Many of our property management members have indicated that this bill is too subjective and may inadvertently lead to Fair Housing issues as it can not be consistently applied.  This issue could also be more easily addressed through the OHFA rulemaking process rather than a state statute.   This has been scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 26^th in Room 4S9.  Click Here for the full meeting agenda.  Click Hereto view all members of the Judiciary Committee.  We recommend that you contact members of the Senate Judiciary Committee immediately to voice your concerns.

For those that are looking to take action, the best course is to have your staff contact every Senator on the Judiciary Committee by phone and/or email today.  CLICK HERE for contact information for all the Senators (listed under the SENATE tab).  Some submitted talking points are available here.

ADDITIONAL BILL UPDATES:

HB4018 – This bill will tweak the Oklahoma Affordable Housing Act to more closely mirror the allocation of federal LIHTCs.  Any unused credits at year end may be rolled over to the following year and any returned credits may be reallocated.  This is a revenue neutral item.

This bill has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday,  March 25^th.  Click Here to view the meeting details and agenda.  Click Here to view members of the Senate Finance Committee.

Please contact your Senator and request they VOTE YES ON HB4018. 

HB3704 – This bill will limit contingencies on real estate contracts to 180 days. This is a repeat of a previous bill (SB1168) that we fought in 2022.  This bill limits contingencies in real estate contracts for permitting, zoning, etc to 180 days.  This is simply not enough time for our developments.  An amendment is pending to remove the 180 day limit.

This bill is scheduled to be heard in Business and Commerce Committee on Monday, March 25^th.  Click Here to view the meeting agenda and room assignment. Click Here to view the Committee members.

ADDITIONAL BILL UPDATES:

HB3704 – This bill will limit contingencies on real estate contracts to 180 days. This is a repeat of a previous bill (SB1168) that we fought in 2022. This bill limits contingencies in real estate contracts for permitting, zoning, etc to 180 days. This is simply not enough time for our developments. 

There has been some confusion or inference to this bill applying only to contracts with the State of Oklahoma. That is NOT how the bill is written. As written, it will apply to all real estate contracts. 

There should be no limit to the length of contingencies that buyers and sellers are willing to negotiate. There are no known issues with OREC on contingencies. 

Please contact your Representative and Senator today and request that they VOTE NO ON HB3704!

*Note: There is an Addendum to remove the 180-day timeline.

HB4018 – This bill will tweak the Oklahoma Affordable Housing Act to more closely mirror the allocation of federal LIHTCs. Any unused credits at year end may be rolled over to the following year and any returned credits may be reallocated. This is a revenue neutral item.

This bill passed the House last Friday 73-6 and will move to the Senate.

Please contact your Senator and request they VOTE YES ON HB4018

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS/OWNERS: HB3499

This bill will add language requiring LIHTC properties only to conduct an individualized review of all criminal history records and the impact on the household’s suitability for admission. It requires defined criminal history screening policies that state that applicants with felony convictions may only be denied housing if an individualized review shows that the safety of residents and the property. This policy must include criteria for lookback periods, no blanket denials and procedures for individualized reviews. Many of our property management members have indicated that this bill is too subjective and may inadvertently lead to Fair Housing issues as it can not be consistently applied. This has passed the House and is moving on to the Senate. We recommend that you contact State Senators immediately to voice your concerns.

For those that are looking to take action, the best course is to have your staff contact every Senator by phone and/or email today. It takes approximately an hour to call all 48 Senators about thirty minutes to email all of them. CLICK HERE for contact information for all the Senators (listed under the SENATE tab). Some submitted talking points are available here.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS/OWNERS:

HB3499 – This bill will add language requiring LIHTC properties only to conduct an individualized review of all criminal history records and the impact on the household’s suitability for admission.  It requires defined criminal history screening policies that state that applicants with felony convictions may only be denied housing if an individualized review shows that the safety of residents and the property.  This policy must include criteria for lookback periods, no blanket denials and procedures for individualized reviews.  May of our property management members have indicated that this bill is too subjective and may inadvertently lead to Fair Housing issues as it can not be consistently applied.  This has been scheduled on the House Floor Agenda. It can be heard anytime after 4:30pm on Thursday, March 7^th, 2024.  If this affects your business, you should reach out to your Representative and Senator and voice any concerns today!

For those that are looking to take action, the best course is to have your staff contact every Representative by phone and/or email today.  It takes approximately one hour to call all 101 Representatives about thirty minutes to email all of them.  CLICK HERE for contact information for all the Representatives (listed under the HOUSE tab).  Some submitted talking points are available here.

Legislative Update:

HB3499 – West is scheduled to be heard in Committee on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, at 4:30pm in Room 450.  For those management companies that are concerned with this bill, click here and scroll to the bottom to see the committee members in case you’d like to reach out to any of them before the meeting.

HB3956-Blancett that will set up an Affordable Housing Commission passed subcommittee this morning. 

HB4018-McBride that allows for the reallocation of returned credits or rollover of unused credits passed subcommittee Monday morning. It will now move on to full committee.