Senate Appropriations Committee Releases the FY2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Funding Bill

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee voted and approved its version of the FY 2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill, which differs from the House Appropriations funding bill that I posted on earlier.  The bill provides for $55.3 billion for both the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), $100 million less than the FY 2011 enacted amount.

Here is a summary of funding to date from the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association:

Program	FY-2011 Enacted	WH FY-2012 Budget	House Sub-Committee 9/8/11	Senate Appropriations Committee 9/21/11 Summary
CDBG	$3,336,000,000	$3,781,368,000	$3,500,984,000	$2,851,000,000
HOME	$1,606,780,000	$1,650,000,000	$1,200,000,000	$1,000,000,000
PJ-Based Section 8	$9,257,000,000	$9,429,000,000	$9,429,000,000	$9,419,000,000
Housing Choice Vouchers	$18,308,000,000	$19,223,000,000	$18,468,000,000	$18,872,000,000
Public Housing Operating Funds	$4,616,748,000	$3,962,859,000	$3,861,850,000	$3,962,000,000
Public Housing Capital Funds	$2,040,112,000	$2,405,345,000	$1,532,117,000	$1,875,000,000
Homeless Assistance Grants	$1,901,190,000	$2,372,000,000	$1,901,190,000	$1,901,190,000
Section 202	$399,200,000	$757,000,000	$600,000,000	$368,000,000
Section 811	$149,700,000	$196,000,000	$196,000,000	$150,000,000
VASH	$49,900,000	$75,000,000	$75,000,000	$75,000,000
HOPWA	$332,000,000	$335,000,000	$334,330,000	$330,000,000
HOPE VI/CNI	$165,000,000	$250,000,000	0	$120,000,000
Homeless Demonstration Program	0	0	0	$5,000,000
Rental Assistance Demonstration	0	0	0	0
Sustainable Communities	$100,000,000	$150,000,000	0	$90,000,000

Click  here for the Senate Committee on Appropriations press release.

House Appropriations Committee Releases the FY2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Funding Bill

The House Appropriations Committee released the FY 2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill, which cuts the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget by $3 billion.

The bill proposed the following levels for housing program funds:

• HOME Investment Partnerships Program- 25% reduction;

• Public Housing Capital Fund- 25% reduction;

• Section 202, Housing for the Elderly- 50% increase;

• Section 811, Housing for Persons with Disabilities- 31% increase;

• Community Development Block Grants- level with FY2011 but funds for administrative expenses are capped at 10%;

• McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants- level with FY2011;

• Public Housing Operation Fund- 16% reduction; and

• HOPE VI and Choice Neighborhoods Initiative: eliminated.

For additional information, click the following:

Press release

Subcommittee draft text of the legislation

Table comparing the draft legislation with the President’s request and the fiscal year 2011 levels

FY2011 Budget: Housing Cuts

This year the Federal government almost shutdown for the first time in fifteen years.  At the last moment, a deal was struck to keep the government going.  In the initial days following the budget deal, it was not readily available what exactly was cut, but we knew over $38 Billion was cut from the Federal budget.

Previously, the blog reported on potential cuts to important affordable housing programs in this post where we reported, among other proposed cuts, a potential $300 Million decrease in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and a replacement of the Hope VI program with the Choice Neighborhoods Program.

Now, the current cuts approved by Congress and signed by President Obama are as follows:

• $3.5 billion for the Community Development Fund (CDF), which includes the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Compared to FY2010 levels, this represents a 21% cut in the CDF and a 16% cut in the CDBG program. These funds reach cities and counties around the country to, among other goals, help improve blighted properties that are crippling neighborhoods.
• $1.6 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, a 12% reduction from FY2010 levels. This program funds affordable housing projects that assist low-income Americans.   
• $2 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, a 18% reduction from FY2010 levels. The Capital Fund provides funds for capital and management activities of Public Housing Agencies (PHAs).
• $4.6 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund, a 3% reduction from FY2010 levels. This fund provides assistance to public housing agencies (PHAs) for the operation and management of public housing.
• $99.8 million for HOPE VI and Choice Neighborhoods Initiative account, a 50% reduction from FY2010. These programs provide funding to transform severely distressed public housing with the goal of creating mixed-income neighborhoods.
• Housing Counseling Assistance is totally eliminated, which provides counseling for homebuyers including mortgage delinquency and foreclosure counseling.

Obama’s FY2012 Budget Released to Congress Cuts Various Housing Programs

On February 14, 2012, the Obama administration released the fiscal year 2012 budget to Capital Hill.  The budget aims to reduce the deficit by $1.1 trillion over the next decade by cutting spending levels for numerous housing programs.  The budget provides the Department of  Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with approximately $41.7 billion discretionary budget, a decrease of $1 billion from the previous year, along with the following proposals:

• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program reduced by $300 million, a 7.5 percent decrease from the previous year.
• HOME Investment Partnerships Programs cut by $175 million, a 9.5% decrease form the previous year.
• 19.2 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides rental assistance to low-income families.  This is a 6 percent increase from the previous year.
• $9.4 billion  for the Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance program, a 10 percent increase, to preserve  1.3 million affordable units.
• $200 million for the Transforming Rental Assistance Initiative (TRA) to convert up to 255,000 public housing units to long-term project-based rental assistance contracts.
• Replace HOPE VI program with the $250 million Choice Neighbourhoods Initiative, which seeks to transform high-poverty areas into sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods with suitable services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs.
• 172 million cut to programs that fund new housing construction for the elderly and disabled.
• $2.37 billion for homeless assistance, a 28 percent increase, to further the Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness.
• Increase the annual mortgage insurance premium paid by borrowers through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  This increase will strengthen Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) capital reserves to allow it to keep  up with its loan guarantee volume.  The  administration  projects the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)  will insure $218 billion in mortgage borrowing in 2012.  (This week, FHA announced that it will be increasing mortgage premiums by a quarter of a percentage point on 30- and 15-year loans backed by the agency, effective April 18, 2011).

Now that the Obama administration has submitted the FY2012 budget, the House and Senate Budget Committees will go to work on drafting budget resolutions for setting spending parameters.