House Passes T-HUD Appropriations Bill
On Tuesday, June 10, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4745, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations bill for FY 2015. The recorded vote came to 229-192 after two days of deliberation.
Close to 70 amendments were introduced for the bill but only a select few relating to affordable housing programs were adopted. Unfortunately, no amendment was introduced that would have provided full-funding for Project-Based Section 8 or reverse the provision to transition all contracts to a calendar year funding schedule. Below is a list of the amendments that were ultimately agreed to and included with H.R. 4745, and those that did not pass or were withdrawn.
Passed
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced H.AMDT.802, which will prohibit the use of funds in this bill to carry out the consolidation of Multifamily Asset Management field offices and their staff under the Transformation Initiative. On April 1, 2014, HUD announced that it would move forward with all aspects of its Multifamily Transformation Initiative except for consolidation of its asset management field staff. Congress had directed HUD to so in a legislative agreement, and Representative Waters’ amendment would continue this direction in 2015. The Senate appropriators included similar language in the Committee Report that followed their T-HUD bill, S.2438. However, the Senate’s language is not included in the actual legislation. NAHMA strongly supports Ms. Waters amendment. It was agreed to by a voice vote.
Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) introducedH.AMDT.798, an amendment which would increase funding for “Fair Housing Activities” by $10 million in FY 2015. This increase will be offset by reduced funding for the Information Technology account. During her floor statement on the amendment, Representative Lee stated, “the funding levels across the bill are still far too low to truly provide the affordable housing resources that our Nation sorely needs.” H.AMDT. 798 was agreed to by voice vote.
H.AMDT.813 was introduced by Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar (R). This amendment would prohibit the use of funds in this bill to implement or enforce the Office of Fair Housing’s proposed disparate impact rule “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing”. This rule proposed new regulations for furthering fair housing planning by states, local governments and PHAs. The amendment was agreed to by a recorded vote of 219 – 207.
Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) introduced H.AMDT.799, an amendment which increases funding for the creation and promotion of translated materials and other programs that support the assistance of persons with limited English proficiency by $150,000. H.AMDT.799 was agreed to by voice vote.
Representative Edward Royce (R-CA) submitted H.AMDT.822, an amendment that would prohibit the use of funds in H.R. 4745 for the Housing Trust Fund. This amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
Rejected or Withdrawn
Representative Keith Ellison (D-MO) introduced H.AMDT.836, an amendment that sought to provide funding for affordable rental housing for extremely low-income families by improving targeting of mortgage interest deductions. To do this, the amendment would have lowered the maximum amount of mortgage interest that can be received in a tax offset from $1 million to $500,000; the revenue generated from these changes would be used for affordable rental housing for extremely low-income families. The Ellison amendment was withdrawn because it contained changes to the U.S. tax code.
H.AMDT. 800, an amendment to establish a budget-neutral demonstration program for multifamily housing energy and water conservation was introduced by Representative James Himes (D-CT). A point of order was raised against the Himes amendment since it proposed to change existing law and constituted a legislation change in an appropriations bill. The amendment was withdrawn.
The Senate has yet to vote on its T-HUD appropriations bill (S.2438) for FY 2015. In advance of its eventual floor debate, NAHMA has asked various Senators to make a statement regarding the Project-Based Section 8 provisions in the bill. Additionally, NAHMA would like to see a Senate amendment on HUD’s Multifamily Transformation Initiative similar to what Representative Maxine Waters introduced on H.R. 4745. We will continue to monitor the progress of S.2438 as well as H.R. 4745. Before either bill becomes law, the House and Senate will have to reconcile the differences between the separate bills.
To view these amendments to H.R. 4745, please
click here.
Nomination Hearing for Secretary Shaun Donovan
On Wednesday, June 11, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan appeared before the Senate Budget Committee for a hearing regarding his nomination as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In this role, Secretary Donovan will be responsible for compiling the President’s budgets for upcoming fiscal years. OMB is also responsible for reviewing the quality of agency programs and policies.
In her opening remarks, Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) praised the secretary for his work at HUD, touching on his leadership as the Chairman of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. She also used her remarks to discuss the need to replace sequestration with a better deficit reduction tool and that the OMB will have to work with Congress in accomplishing an agreement. She was critical of the lateness in delivery of most of the President’s budgets, and she mentioned that Secretary Donovan will have to deliver budgets that provide long-term solutions to the nation’s fiscal issues.
The Committee’s Ranking Member, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), was very critical of the Secretary and used his opening remarks to point to faults within HUD during Donovan’s tenure. To begin, Senator Sessions stated that Secretary Donovan has no track record of fiscal discipline, nor did he institute policies that address the rise in entitlement spending. He pinpointed to several HUD Inspector General Reports that cast light on some instances where Donovan exercised poor oversight and leadership.
One report was critical of HUD’s phone lines, which often led to unanswered calls, poor servicing and bad customer service for citizens in need of assistance. Another report from February, 2014 detailed failures in Section 202 refinancing operations from inefficient management that disserved tenants and resulted in lost economic opportunities. Senator Sessions specifically quoted these lines from the report:
“HUD did not have adequate controls to ensure that all Section 202 refinancing resulted in economical and efficient outcomes. Specifically, (1) HUD did not ensure that at least half the debt service savings that resulted from refinancing were used to benefit tenants or reduce housing assistance payments, (2) consistent accountability for the debt service savings was not always maintained, and (3) some refinancing were processed for projects that had negative debt service savings, which resulted in higher debt service costs than before the refinancing. These deficiencies were due to HUD’s lack of adequate oversight and inconsistent nationwide policy implementation regarding debt service savings realized from Section 202 refinancing activities.”
Shaun Donovan used his testimony to point to a recovering housing market and slimmer deficits that occurred under his leadership of HUD as evidence of his readiness for the Director position at OMB. He also touched on his desire to work with Congress and the President on reducing spending and improving Government efficiency.
The confirmation vote of Secretary Donovan to replace the outgoing OMB director will occur later this summer. Meanwhile, a nomination hearing for Julian Castro, the President’s nominee to replace Donovan at HUD will occur on June 17, 2014 before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
To watch an archived webcast of this hearing and to read the Secretary’s testimony, please
click here.
House Debates Agriculture, Rural Development Appropriations
On Wednesday, June 11, the House of Representatives began consideration of H.R. 4800, the FY 2015 Appropriations bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, and Other Agencies. However, at press time, the House has not finished deliberation of the bill, and it remains as unfinished business for more consideration. During the first debate, numerous amendments were introduced but none related to programs administered by USDA’s Rural Housing Service. NAHMA will continue to follow the progress of this bill.
