0
0
0

Boehner Announces Departure, Housing Industry Doesn’t Notice

by James McClister

What’s Next?

Effective Oct. 30, John Boehner will no longer be speaker of the house or a U.S. Congressman. Some will argue that is good for housing, others will say the opposite. The only certainty is that the position will be vacant, and it will need to be filled.

Right now, the primary frontrunner to fill the role is House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif., 23rd), who faces no significant opposition since Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis., 1st) announced he would not be seeking the spot.

McCarthy’s record on housing has largely been one of cuts. In 2013, McCarthy voted to approve an amendment to the Transportion, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act that defunded the implementation, administration and enforcement of the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule, which would have required grantees to conduct an “Assessment of Fair Housing planning process.” The process, as the HUD website explained, was intended to help communities “analyze challenges to fair housing choice and establish their own goals and priorities to address the fair housing barriers in their community.”

While the majority leader has refrained from sponsoring or co-sponsoring any bills with significant housing implications, he has voted on several key pieces of housing legislation, including votes to terminate the Home Affordable Modification ProgramNeighborhood Stabilization ProgramEmergency Mortgage Relief Program and the FHA Refinancing Program.

Republican Rep. Daniel Webster from Florida’s 10th district recently said he plans to run, but a 2014 ruling that his district was drawn to favor Republicans may be a more preoccupying concern for the politician. Still, he appears set on vying for the open spot, and, in fact, sought the speakership when his party’s hardliners nominated him at the start of the current congress. He received a dozen votes, but nothing that would make him stand out from other contenders.

The Florida rep, who has been in office since 2011, has yet to place his definitive stamp on the housing industry, but in 2012 he did grab headlines by sponsoring a successful amendment to an appropriations bill that effectively cut funding to the American Community Survey. The survey provided data on social, economic, demographic and housing characteristics of the U.S. population, which many believed were crucial to accurately gauging the country’s social and economic health.

Read More Related to This Post

Join the conversation

New Subscribe

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.