House Passes HUD Appropriations Bill; $100 Million Added for Section 8 Vouchers
On Thursday, June 30, the House of Representatives passed the Transportation, Treasury, HUD, Judiciary, District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2006. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), along with Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), proposed an amendment to the appropriations bill restoring $100 million for Section 8 vouchers. The amendment was approved on the House floor by a vote of 225-194. The $100 million will be offset by funds from the Working Capital Fund. Other amendments approved by the House included a proposal by Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) to increase CDBG funding by $67.5 million and a proposal by Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) to restore $60 million in HOPE VI funding.
Although the text of the House-passed bill is not yet available, our best information suggests the House recommended the following amounts for key HUD programs:
Section 8 tenant-based assistance: $15.63 billion
- $865 million above FY 2005 but $214 million below the President’s request
Section 8 project-based assistance: $5.09 billion
- $210 million below FY 2005 but $16 million above the President’s request
CDBG: $4.22 billion
- $452.3 million below FY 2005
- President proposed consolidating CDBG and moving it to the Dept. of Commerce
HOME: $1.9 billion
- Same funding as FY 2005 and $41 million below the President’s request
- The bill increased the formula grant $60 million above the request
Section 202 Elderly: $741 million
- Same funding as FY 2005 and the President’s request
Section 811 Disabled: $238.1 million
- Same funding as FY 2005 and $118 million more than the President’s request
LEP
As discussed at NAHMA’s Summer meeting, Rep. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) are sending a joint letter to Secretary Jackson about HUD’s Limited English Proficiency guidance. The letter notes that while the Congressmen strongly support providing assistance for persons with limited English proficiency to help them fully access rental assistance programs, “…we are concerned that the December 19 draft guidance relies too heavily on private sector actions and not enough on HUD’s responsibilities to comply with the executive order.” The letter closely follows many of NAHMA’s recommendations for improving the final guidance prior to releasing the final version.
Legislation
Housing America’s Workforce Act
On Wednesday, June 29, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) introduced the Housing America’s Workforce Act of 2005 (S. 1330), a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for employer-provided employee housing assistance. According to the National Housing Conference, the bill “offers an innovative local solution for increasing affordable housing opportunities by implementing a Federal tax-based employer assisted housing (EAH) program” that will provide working families in America with benefits such as downpayment assistance and rental assistance.
Co-sponsors of the bill are Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR). On Thursday, June 30, Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) introduced a companion bill in the House, H.R. 3194. S. 1330 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. H.R. 3194 has been referred to the both the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Financial Services.
To read the National Housing Conference’s press release concerning the bill,
click here.
Other Bills
On Thursday, June 30, Rep. Phil English (R-PA) introduced H.R. 3159, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the rehabilitation credit and the low-income housing credit. The full text of the bill is not yet available. H.R. 3159 has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
On Thursday, June 30, Rep. Jim Ryun (R-KS) introduced H.R. 3186, a bill to amend the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act to exclude amounts received as a military basic housing allowance from consideration as income for purposes of eligibility for federally assisted low-income housing programs. The full text of the bill is not yet available. H.R. 3186 has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
