Wayne Allard: “I turn now to the issue of housing. Congress created the Mark-to-Market Program in 1997 to reduce Section 8 costs while…”

“I turn now to the issue of housing. Congress created the Mark-to-Market Program in 1997 to reduce Section 8 costs while preserving the affordability and availability of low-income rental housing. The purpose of the program is to reduce the property rents to market level while simultaneously restructuring property debt to prevent FHA defaults. Studies seem to show that the program has been an overwhelming success. Nearly 250,000 units of affordable housing have been preserved due to the Mark-to-Market Program. This is affordable housing that would have been permanently lost as affordable otherwise. According to HUD, the program has also saved taxpayers more than $2 billion. The original legislation authorized the Mark-to-Market Program for 4 years, which was subsequently extended for 5 additional years. Therefore, the Mark-to-Market program authority was scheduled to expire on September 30, 2006. Fortunately, the program authority was temporarily extended under the continuing resolutions. When the program was extended in 2001, it appeared that 5 additional years would be sufficient time for nearly all eligible properties to complete the Mark-to-Market process. However, more recent projections show that nearly 78,000 properties will face rent reductions over the next 5 years. It is important to note that even though the program will expire, these Section 8 properties with above market rates will still be required to have their rents reduced to market levels.”