Condo Media - August 2021 - 32

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Biden Administration, Congress,
and Community Associations:
THE TRANSITION to a new presidential
administration and a closely divided
Congress has not slowed the pace of the
federal government in 2021. In March,
President Biden's signature COVID-19
relief plan, the American Rescue Plan
Act, became law. The president and Congress
have moved onto consideration
of the American Jobs Plan, a proposal
to rebuild the nation's infrastructure.
As federal policymakers discuss these
and other proposals, CAI advocates are
working to advance key CAI priorities.
CAI advocates secured an important
advocacy win in the American Rescue
Plan Act with the establishment of the
Homeowner Assistance Fund. CAI advocates
are now pressing members of Congress
to include community association
disaster relief legislation in the American
Jobs Plan. Other issues affecting community
associations under discussion by
federal policymakers are being closely
monitored, including federal fair housing
and debt collection policy.
HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCE FUND
The Homeowner Assistance Fund helps
homeowners who lost jobs and income
due to the COVID-19 pandemic catch
up on missed mortgage and housing
payments. The $9.9 billion national
program is managed by the U.S. Treasury
Department and is administered
by state housing fi nance agencies.
CAI advocates secured language in the
American Rescue Plan Act to include
delinquent community association assessments
as housing costs eligible to be
paid through the Homeowner Assistance
Fund. This marks the fi rst time the federal
government has expressly elevated
delinquent community association assessments
to the same level of importance
as delinquent mortgage payments in
emergency housing assistance legislation.
The Homeowner Assistance Fund has
already disbursed more than $700 million
to state housing fi nance agencies to
32 CONDOMEDIA August 2021
help eligible homeowners avoid foreclosure.
All community association homeowners
with assessment delinquencies
due to COVID-19 job and income losses
should be encouraged to contact their
state housing fi nance agency to determine
if they are eligible for relief through
the Homeowner Assistance Fund.
RECOVERING FROM
NATURAL DISASTERS
Community associations are often
overlooked in natural disaster recovery
activities because the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
takes the view that disaster recovery
is the association's responsibility. This
forces community association homeowners
to pay disaster recovery costs
that homeowners in non-association
neighborhoods do not pay.
The Disaster Assistance Equity Act
will require FEMA to provide community
association homeowners the same
disaster recovery assistance as non-association
homeowners. Under this legislation,
if a local government determines disaster
debris in a community association
is a threat to the life, health, and safety of
residents, FEMA will be required to reimburse
the local government's costs to
remove these threats as is currently done
for non-association neighborhoods. This
legislation will also allow condominium
and housing cooperative homeowners to
use FEMA disaster assistance to repair
building roofs and other critical building
infrastructure in the same manner as
single-family homeowners may under
FEMA current rules.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York is
leading efforts to pass the Disaster Assistance
Equity Act. CAI advocates expect
Rep. Nadler will be joined by several Republican
and Democrat representatives
when the Disaster Assistance Equity
Act is introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives in June. Rep. Nadler
has indicated he will work to include the
2021 Mid-Year Community Associations Institute Federal Update
Disaster Assistance Equity Act in the
American Jobs Plan Act, which Congress
will consider this summer.
FEDERAL ISSUES ON THE HORIZON
CAI advocates are monitoring other
areas of federal policy that affect community
associations. President Biden
has placed a renewed emphasis on fair
housing enforcement and addressing the
nation's housing shortage. Additionally,
legislation amending the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act has been approved
by the U.S. House of Representatives.
At President Biden's direction, the
2015 Affi rmatively Further ing Fair
Housing (AFFH) regulation requiring
state and local governments to improve
fair housing access in communities has
been reinstated. The president is also
supporting a review of local government
zoning policy to determine how
zoning rules have contributed to the
national housing shortage, estimated
by federal mortgage fi nance company
Freddie Mac to be 3.8 million homes.
In May, the U.S. House of Representatives
narrowly approved H.R. 2457,
the Comprehensive Debt Collection
Improvement Act. CAI is monitoring
one provision of the legislation that
overturns the unanimous opinion of
the Supreme Court in Obduskey v. McCarthy
& Holthus, LLP., that governs
how the Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act applies to non-judicial foreclosures.
CAI supported the Supreme Court's
opinion in the Obduskey case, which
provided clarity for community association
attorneys involved in non-judicial
foreclosure actions. H.R. 2457 is
controversial, and the U.S. Senate is
unlikely to approve the legislation.
■ C. SCOTT CANADY,
CAI'S FEDERAL ADVOCATE
TAMBALA STRATEGIES
Condo Media - August 2021

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