Capitol Words a project of the Sunlight Foundation

Rep. Chaka Fattah

Mr. Speaker, Pennsylvanians in need of affordable housing, and those of us who advocate for quality, safe housing accessible to all, have a quiet superstar in our midst.

Since 2003, Brian A. Hudson Sr. has served as Executive Director and CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, the agency that turns the portfolio of affordable housing programs into brick and mortar. His ascension to leadership is well deserved: he has worked at the agency for three decades.

Brian Hudson's work frequently brings him into Philadelphia where PHFA has accomplished near-miracles in public-private-nonprofit partnerships and Brian Hudson is legendary for the art of the deal. Those deals provide affordable housing for seniors, for young families, for veterans, for low-income families, for individuals facing substance abuse and Philadelphians with disabilities.

Brian Hudson may not be well-known by the public but those who work with him and his agency hold the man in awe. Mr. Hudson's presence at a ribbon-cutting or turnkey dedication or groundbreaking is a welcome sight, and I've been pleased to share that podium with him on many occasions as an advocate in Congress for these critically needed programs. When Brian Hudson is on the scene, it means the hard work has been done, and it's been done right.

Most recently, on October 31, Mr. Hudson and I, joined by Mayor Michael Nutter and a ``who's who'' of business and community leaders as well as older residents who were already in residence, dedicated The Apartments at Cliveden in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood. The NewCourtland Network's latest development is a $14.6 million project, launched with major help from Brian Hudson and PHFA, to provide 62 units of affordable, dignified, modern living for seniors 62 and older.

Brian Hudson's list of credits--and responsibilities--in the housing field is long and impressive. He has been a Director of the federally chartered Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh since 2007. He has served as Vice President and on the board of the National Council of State Housing Agencies. He is a member of the Consumer Advisory Council at The Federal Reserve System.

Since its founding in 1972, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has financed more than 130,000 houses and 54,000 apartment units while assisting 40,000 homeowners threatened with foreclosure.

In recent months Mr. Hudson's PHFA performed an astounding feat of public service under extreme deadline conditions. PHFA was able to administer and distribute more than $100 million made available to Pennsylvanians under the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program (EHLP) by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development--within less than six months.

I sponsored the EHLP program in Congress and secured its inclusion in the Wall Street Reform Act. This emergency assistance was based on an earlier program, the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP) that I developed as a young legislator in the Pennsylvania General Assembly in the early 1980s. That's just about the time a young housing whizkid named Brian Hudson came to work for PHFA, helping that agency turn HEMAP into the nation's premier state-based emergency mortgage assistance program.

Over a quarter century HEMAP provided more than $433 million in emergency mortgage assistance loans. Nearly 90 percent of Pennsylvania homeowners receiving this assistance have avoided foreclosure. Those clients were Pennsylvanians who had been making their mortgage payments until, through no fault of their own, they lost a job or other income stream and tumbled toward default. Thanks to HEMAP, 17,000 Pennsylvania families were able to stay in their homes, get back on their feet, and even to repay HEMAP for that home-saving loan. In fact, over its lifetime, HEMAP actually turned a modest profit for the taxpayers!

That outstanding track record was worth duplicating, and it became the model for the EHLP program I introduced. This federal program provided up to $50,000, or 24 months, of continuing financial assistance, to families who were in danger of losing their homes due to lost income from involuntary unemployment, under-employment or medical expenses. Unfortunately we were able to fund EHLP only for FY2011. Faced with the rapidly approaching Sept. 30, 2011, deadline and a complex set of regulations for homeowners in need of emergency assistance, Mr. Hudson oversaw the processing and approval of 3,056 applications in Pennsylvania, with distribution of $108 million in emergency home-saving aid in less than six months. That's more than 10 percent of the EHLP funds made available coast to coast.

We will be working to bring EHLP back to life. Meanwhile, Brian Hudson and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency have plenty of work to do. They've been funding a housing locator service for state residents dislocated by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. They are expediting affordable housing developments everywhere in the Commonwealth involving a myriad of municipal, state and federal programs.

The record builds, and tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians are already saying thank you. Through it all, the simple formula for success remains: Brian Hudson = Affordable Housing.