Six of State Sen. Russ Huxtable’s (D-Lewes) seven housing bills were signed into law Friday, along with Sen. Majority Whip Tizzy Lockman's (D-Wilmington) bill closing a loophole that previously allowed landlords not to accept government-sponsored rental vouchers.
In March, Huxtable filed seven bills to address workforce housing, mortgaging mediation and affordable housing needs.
At the time, he told Delaware Public Media he didn’t expect all the bills to land, but only one bill didn’t make it through the General Assembly this legislative session.
“Progress can be measured in a lot of different ways by big generous actions or by incremental change, and some of these bills are going to be big, some are gonna be incremental changes, but they're all positive in the forward direction," Huxtable said during the bill's signing event.
Gov. John Carney signed legislation creating the Delaware Workforce Housing Program, offering grants of up to 20% of the construction costs for qualified workforce housing projects, as well as an act to exempt affordable housing construction from the 2% realty transfer tax.
The package also includes bills that allow counties with a lodging tax to spend that money on affordable housing programs, establishes a Housing Repair and Modification Fund and requires manufactured home communities to fix any health and safety home violations before raising the rent.
Another extends the state’s mortgage mediation program.
Attorney General Kathy Jennings explains the program began when Beau Biden was Attorney General during the 2008 housing crisis in an effort to help prevent families from losing their homes to foreclosure.
“He was successful in forming that mortgage mediation program in our office, but it had a sunset provision, and it was never going to be a permanent thing. But we realized that what had been created was critically important because the need for mortgage mediation never went away," Jennings said.
Now – indefinitely – the notice of intended foreclosures must be accompanied with a list of financial and legal resources for homeowners.
The lone bill to stall in committee was Huxtable’s effort to allow the construction of in-law units or garage apartments without prohibitive barriers from local governments.
