The president has included $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund in his FY12 HUD budget, as he did in FY10 and FY11, giving the fund, which was created in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 but not funded, another shot at getting the $1 billion in capitalization advocates have been fighting for for years.

The challenge, as with previous years, is to pass a budget “offset” legislatively since it is on the mandatory side of the budget so as not to compete with existing HUD programs. Last year tries included the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, NSP3, and the extension of the Bush tax cuts of all things, from which it was dropped at the last minute. The NHTF campaign says it will accept any offset that “does not involve cuts to other services or benefits for low-income people.” Third year’s the charm?