Senate THUD Committee Releases Draft FY23 Funding Bill
This week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) released its draft funding bill for fiscal year (FY) 2023. The bill provides $70 billion for HUD’s affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs – an increase of $4.3 billion over FY22-enacted levels but $3 billion less than the House bill and $1.9 billion less than the amount proposed in President Biden’s FY23 budget request.
Rental Assistance
The bill includes over $55 billion for HUD rental assistance programs:
- $14.69 billion for project-based Section 8 (PBRA) rental assistance, $747 million more than fiscal year 2022,
- $1.321 billion for Housing for the Elderly and Housing for Persons with Disabilities,
- $8.47 billion for public housing ($3.4 billion for capital fund and $5 billion for operating fund)
- $30.18 billion for tenant-based Section 8 vouchers.
The Committee also included $53 million for HUD to provide budget-based rent adjustments to PBRA contracts that have been renewed through the Mark-to-Market (M2M) program and are distressed or at risk of becoming distressed. In utilizing this additional funding, the Department shall prioritize properties that meet all of the following conditions: rents below 80 percent of fair market rent; REAC scores below 70; and designated as troubled or potentially troubled. The Committee reiterates the importance of maintaining properties in a decent, safe, and sanitary condition and encourages HUD to ensure the rent adjustments will help address the operational and/or physical needs of the properties. The Committee recognizes there are additional post-M2M properties that may require budget-based rent adjustments and directs HUD to use existing data sources, including PBCA/HUD management and occupancy reviews, as well as REAC inspections, to assess the physical property and operational needs amongst post-M2M properties and other PBRA properties with health and safety deficiencies to better understand the scope of the problem. HUD is directed to provide the results of this assessment to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 180 days of enactment of this act.
The Committee’s recommendation included $742 million for the costs associated with fully funding all annual PRAC renewals and amendments; up to $10 million to support preservation transactions originally developed with a capital advance and assisted by a PRAC; $132 million for new capital advances; and $145 million for service coordinators and the continuation of existing congregate service grants. This also includes $25 million to expand service coordinators, and recommends HUD prioritize grant awards to applicants located in States with older populations (in accordance with median age) that have established and evaluated models of support and service at home.
Access to Affordable Housing
The bill also addresses state and local zoning and land use laws and regulations that limit the number of units that can be built and impose burdens on development, driving up housing costs. State and local governments across the country are beginning to review and reduce barriers that limit housing production. To support and encourage more of these actions, the bill provides $200 million for a new “Yes In My Back Yard” incentive program to reward jurisdictions that make reforms to facilitate affordable housing production. To help address the Nation’s affordable housing crisis, the bill strongly supports the HOME Investment Partnership Program, which is the primary Federal tool of state and local governments for the production of affordable rental and owner-occupied housing, with a $1.725 billion investment. This will result in the construction of more than 11,400 new rental and homebuyer units.
VAWA
In order to address the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 and prior year authorizations, the bill advances necessary reforms and next steps to improve emergency assistance in relocating survivors to safe housing by providing $52 million for new CoC projects serving survivors fleeing domestic violence and $5 million for technical assistance to improve the timeliness and effectiveness of emergency transfer plans. It also requires HUD to report on its plans to allow for the use of tenant protection vouchers for emergency relocation and the monitoring of existing covered housing providers’ emergency transfer plans; and funding the newly authorized Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention and supporting staff.
Additional Investments:
- $3.525 billion for the Community Development Block Grant formula program,
- $390 million for HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, to remediate lead-based paint from over 25,000 low-income households,
- $250 million for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative to transform underserved distressed neighborhoods, of which up to $50 million will be used to support current implementation grantees that are facing challenges in meeting the housing unit replacement requirements due to construction cost increases,
- $150 million for the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, $41 million more than FY22, to provide public housing and Section 8 residents with tools to improve their economic stability,
- $20 million for transit technical assistance and grants to areas of persistent poverty or disadvantaged communities to expand mobility in underserved communities.
Appropriation committee leaders have not yet reached a bipartisan agreement on topline spending numbers and any final funding bill must gain the support of at least 10 Senate Republicans to avoid a filibuster. Current funding for government programs runs out on October 1, 2022, and Congress will more than likely need to enact a short-term funding bill to keep the government open past the Oct. 1 date and to provide congressional leadership with more time to negotiate, draft, and enact a final funding bill by the end of the year. As the appropriations process continues, NAHMA staff will continue weighing in with senators and representatives to urge them to expand investments in affordable housing programs.
To view the committee’s explanatory statement, click here.
USDA Seeks to Increase High-Speed Internet Access in Rural Areas
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is investing $401 million to provide access to high-speed internet for 31,000 rural residents and businesses in 11 states, part of the Administration’s commitment to investing in rural infrastructure and affordable high-speed internet for all. This announcement includes a group of investments from the ReConnect Program, and an award funded through USDA’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program. USDA will make additional investments for rural high-speed internet later this summer, including ReConnect Program funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides a historic $65 billion investment to expand affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S.
“Connectivity is critical to economic success in rural America,” Sec. Vilsack said. “The internet is vital to our growth and continues to act as a catalyst for our prosperity. From the farm to the school, from households to international markets, connectivity drives positive change in our communities. The investments I am announcing today will help 31,000 people and businesses in large and diverse regions across the country access new and critical opportunities. Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, USDA knows rural America is America’s backbone, and prosperity here means prosperity for all.” USDA is supporting high-speed internet investments in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas. Several awards will also help rural people and businesses on Tribal lands and those in socially vulnerable communities.
For more information, click here.
President Biden, Senators Manchin, Schumer Announce Inflation Reduction Act
This week, following negotiations with Senators Schumer and Manchin, President Biden announced his support for a bill, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, to fight inflation and lower costs for American families. The Inflation Reduction Act seeks to provide down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. The bill would also allow Medicare to negotiate for prescription drug prices and extend the expanded Affordable Care Act program for three years, through 2025. The bill would will invest approximately $300 billion in Deficit Reduction and $369 billion in Energy Security and Climate Change programs over the next ten years. Additionally, the agreement calls for comprehensive Permitting reform legislation to be passed before the end of the fiscal year, which is essential to unlocking domestic energy and transmission projects. “This is the action the American people have been waiting for. This addresses the problems of today – high health care costs and overall inflation – as well as investments in our energy security for the future,” said President Biden.
To read President Biden’s full statement on the Inflation Reduction Act, click here.