Senate Appropriators Release Topline Funding Levels for THUD
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees recently released topline funding levels for the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding bill. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) provided $88.091 billion for THUD funding, for both HUD and the Department of Transportation programs. This funding is significant as HUD is facing an expected budget shortfall of $15 billion. However, in the House of Representatives, appropriators have stated that they intend to cut spending by over $22.12 billion, or 25% reduction from FY23 enacted levels.
In a March letter to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge stated that if funding cuts proposed by the House are enacted, over one million households would lose their rental assistance and that such extreme funding cuts would also make it impossible for HUD to stave off mass evictions. Given the gaps in the funding levels between the House and Senate, NAHMA will continue to advocate with lawmakers to ensure they work together to provide at least level funding for HUD programs in FY24.
Administration Awards $40 Billion in Funding for High-Speed Internet
This week, the White House announced that the Department of Commerce is providing funding for each state, territory and the District of Columbia for high-speed internet infrastructure deployment through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program—a $42.45 billion grant program created in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by the Department of Commerce. Among the highlights:
- Awards range from $27 million to over $3.3 billion, with every state receiving a minimum of $107 million.
- 19 states received allocations over $1 billion with the top 10 allocations in Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
- With these allocations and other investments, all 50 states, DC, and the territories now have the resources to connect every resident and small business to reliable, affordable high-speed internet by 2030.
The announcement of BEAD funds is just one component of President Biden’s efforts to ensure that everyone in America has access to affordable, reliable high-speed internet as part of the Investing in America agenda. In recent weeks, President Biden announced over $700 million in USDA ReConnect awards, over $900 million in NTIA Middle Mile awards and launched the Online for All campaign to increase ACP enrollment and visibility. Additional information on high-speed internet programs and funding is available at www.InternetForAll.Gov. Details related to the BEAD allocation for the states, D.C., and territories, as well as the total Federal investment in high-speed internet in each State and Territory are available here.
To view the White House fact sheet, click here.
Administration Publicizes New Measures to Promote Equitable Community Development
This week, the White House announced new steps to ensure underserved communities can build wealth and advance community-driven priorities. The President directed the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to issue a policy memorandum outlining actions federal agencies can take to advance urban equitable development, so that their processes, policies, and programs better meet the needs of all communities and community members, with a particular focus on underserved communities and populations. This includes supporting local economies through investments in civic infrastructure, small businesses, climate and disaster resilience, transportation infrastructure, and housing; creating local, livable-wage jobs and economic opportunity; mitigating economic displacement as a result of investment in infrastructure and community development; facilitating flows of private capital to underserved communities; and incorporating outcome-based metrics focused.
Additionally, the Interagency Community Investment Committee (ICIC) — which is Chaired by Sec. Fudge and includes agencies focused on aligning federal investments to support economic growth in historically underserved communities — announced new actions to strengthen how federal community investment programs serve communities that have historically lacked access to resources and capital. To support community finance market development through access to secondary markets, HUD, through Ginnie Mae (GNMA), Treasury’s CDFI Fund, and USDA will engage with Federal Home Loan Banks and community-based lenders to enable more borrowers to access affordable homeownership through providing access to global financial markets through HUD’s GNMA guarantee. The Treasury Department will conduct new outreach to private investors and CDFIs to better understand the metrics that could best support market development, secondary market access, and the value of CDFIs to the communities they serve. Treasury, in partnership with HUD, will also issue guidance to make it easier for Treasury’s State and Local Federal Relief Funds program to be paired with HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Program.
To better connect rural communities to capital for growing small businesses, developing affordable housing, and workforce training, the ICIC will also train field and Rural Partners Network (RPN) staff on how federal support can best support local efforts around affordable housing, small business development, and workforce development. RPN is also developing rural economic development materials, such as webinars and guides, to help all rural communities identify and access federal funds on www.rural.gov.
To view the White House fact sheet, click here.
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