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NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt, and Regulatory Affairs Counsel Kaley Schafer participated in a White House call yesterday on the Trump administration’s new efforts to revitalize communities across the nation through “Opportunity Zones.”

An executive order, signed after the call, will establish the White House Revitalization Council, which will be comprised of 13 federal agencies, including the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Justice Department, Energy Department, Small Business Administration, and others. The council will also create a partnership of private- and public-sector entities committed to lifting up rural, urban and distressed communities. These communities span all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, allowing the council to help streamline, coordinate and target prospects that could benefit from existing federal programs aimed at communities that need help the most.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson, whom NAFCU staff have met with several times in 2018, will be the new council’s chairman.

Most recently, NAFCU met with Carson at HUD headquarters to discuss credit unions' priorities in the housing finance market. NAFCU shared its core principles for housing finance reform and urged that any reform efforts include these credit union priorities.

Also this year, NAFCU has urged further promotion and assistance by HUD of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) – particularly in distressed and rural communities.

The White House’s latest efforts compliment a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that creates “Opportunity Zones,” which will use tax incentives to draw long-term investment to parts of the nation that continue to grapple with high poverty rates and slow job growth. The zones were championed by and included in the tax law by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.