Congress and Administration Budget Negotiations Continue
This week, negotiations over the debt limit and budget continued with specific focus on spending cuts and revenue raises that will be included in the broader budget deal. At this time key players are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12). Their negotiations will likely continue over the weekend and into next week, with a goal to reach a budget deal before Congress’ August recess. There have been signs of progress. Specifically, some media outlets reported that Congressional leaders reached a two-year agreement to raise Congress’ spending caps and debt ceiling for fiscal years 2020 and 2021; however, disagreement remained over offsetting the spending cuts. Another huge unknown is whether the President will sign or threaten to veto the final budget deal, if one is reached. NAHMA supports increasing the budget caps to avoid harmful cuts to affordable housing and community development programs.
House Financial Services Committee Approves CDBG-DR Legislation
This week, the House Financial Services Committee advanced the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019” (H.R. 3702), legislation that would reform and permanently authorize HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program. This legislation passed by a bipartisan and unanimous vote of 58-0. For additional details on the reforms to CDBG-DR, please click here for a fact sheet on the bill from the Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC), of which NAHMA is a member.
NSPIRE Demonstration Registration Now Open ( **below is a HUD/REAC email, dated July 19, 2019**)
As part of its continuing efforts to improve its physical inspection process, HUD is pleased to announce nationwide, open registration for the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) Demonstration.
Public Housing Agencies (PHA) and Property Owners/Agents (POA) across the U.S. and its territories are welcome to register; however, HUD will begin the selection process with properties from Region III and will continue until a nationwide representative group is chosen.
PHAs and POAs will receive acceptance or rejection notification separately from the confirmation that their application has been received. Acceptance notifications will contain additional information such as terms and conditions of participation, and the process and implications of withdrawing from the Demonstration.
PHAs and POAs are encouraged to register one or multiple properties for acceptance into the Demonstration but there is no requirement to submit all properties within a portfolio. Submission of an application does not constitute acceptance into the program nor does it obligate the PHA or POA in any way. Once accepted into the Demonstration, participants may voluntarily withdraw any or all properties at anytime.
More information and the link to register for the Demonstration can be found at the following URL: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/reac/nspire/registration
For questions, please submit an email to: NSPIRE@hud.gov