Federal Greek Housing Bills.

[dnall]

Bump...

This bill comes up every session & doesn't seem to make much progress. It's a complex issue of balancing greek beds against dorm beds - ie you can make a tax deductible donation to a university which can spend the money on a dorm, but you can't do so for a fraternity/sorority to do the same, not even if that's on property leased from the university.

In recent years there has been an effort to split off a part of the bill. Specifically it would allow donations for life/health/safety improvements. That's mostly aimed at installing fire sprinklers, but would also include general improvements that improve safety or ADA compliance. Still doesn't help building a house though, not even the portion of expense that would go to those type of issues.

The general consensus is this is something congress wants to do, but the timing is not great. It's possible to get it slipped into something as an amendment, but probably would not pass on its own. While there are lots of co-sponsors, no one seems to be extremely committed to the degree required to get a deal done.

We need to stay on them to keep this on their desk.

[PaddyMaxwell]

I would expect the best way to pass this initiative (yes, I know it is aged at this point), would be to strategically follow a bill that deals specifically with some College/University level funding that has a favorable probability of passage. Once this bill has been identified, a grassroots campaign must be enacted swiftly and without mercy; during which, letters, calls, and visits will need to be made to the elected officials both requesting attachment of this legislation, and urging the subsequent passage of the bill. Timing is everything in D.C.