US to provide $100M over 3 years to support affordable housing

Janet Yellen's comments to come just days before 1st presidential debate as Americans struggle with high inflation, escalating rental, housing costs

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US government will provide an additional $100 million over the next three years to support the financing of affordable housing in the nation.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will announce the new measures on Monday in a speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Yellen will call for US state and local housing finance agencies to provide higher interest rate predictability to borrowing, and the Federal Home Loan Banks to increase their spending on housing programs.

The Treasury chief, in addition, will provide an update to the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) Program to provide greater flexibility to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and non-profits that finance affordable housing.

The Treasury Department's CMF Program offers grants to CDFIs and non-profit organizations to finance affordable housing.

In the fiscal year of 2023, the CMF made over $320 million in awards projected to leverage more than $11.1 billion in resources to support affordable housing, according to the statement.

"Awardees planned to develop more than 32,700 affordable housing units, with half of awardees planning to invest a portion of their award to support housing in rural areas," it added.

The Treasury Department invested more than $8.57 billion to community lenders during the coronavirus pandemic to support lending to small businesses, consumers and affordable housing projects through its Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP), said the statment.

"Through the end of 2023, ECIP participants invested $1.2 billion in 433 affordable housing projects across the country," it added.

Yellen's comments will come just days before President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off Thursday in the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election as Americans struggle with high inflation, rising rental prices and higher borrowing costs due to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tightening.

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