It’s the final week of August advocacy! We’ve sent over 2,000 letters to Congress in August – a good number, but still well below our goal of 3,000 letters. Please take action now to support responsible funding for housing and community development in FY 2019.

House and Senate Appropriations staff are currently working to negotiate a final Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill. Using the Senate-approved FY 2019 THUD bill and the House Appropriations Committee-approved bill, staffers are in the process of “conferencing” these two pieces of legislation into a single bill, likely to be passed as a larger spending package. This means important decisions about spending levels for housing and community development programs are being made right now. Make sure your voice is heard in this process by sending a letter to your members of Congress today.

Please help us reinforce the importance of responsible funding for housing and community development programs and help NAHRO send 3,000 letters to Capitol Hill this month – reach out to your members of Congress now!

HUD has awarded on $5 million to 22 public housing agencies across the country for Emergency and Security Improvements.  The FY18 omnibus provided $21.5 million for grants to PHAs for emergency capital needs resulting from unforeseen or unpreventable emergencies and natural disasters, excluding presidentially declared emergencies and natural disasters under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Act. This included a set-aside of $5 million reserved for safety and security emergencies. HUD’s Capital Fund Emergency Safety and Security Program supports public housing authorities as they address the safety of public housing residents. These grants may be used to install, repair, or replace capital needs items including security systems/surveillance cameras, fencing, lighting systems, emergency alarm systems, window bars, deadbolt locks and doors.

HUD’s press release can be found here.

On August 8, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development posted Notice CPD-18-09, “Requirements for HOME Homebuyer Program Policies and Procedures.” The Notice provides guidance to HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) participating jurisdictions (PJs) on requirements for the homebuyer program. Requirements include: homebuyer underwriting standards, responsible legal standards, and standards for refinancing and subordination of HOME loans. PJs must implement these requirements for all homebuyers who receive HOME assistance of purchase a unit developed with HOME funds.

The Notice also includes guidance on the housing counseling requirements for the HOME Homebuyer Program, including the use of HUD-approved counselors and housing counseling agencies.

This afternoon the Senate voted 92-6 to approve a four-bill spending package that includes the FY 2019 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill.

Details on the Senate’s THUD bill can be found here (NAHRO log-in required). The bill was passed without major changes; no funding levels were altered and only a couple of housing-related amendments were approved, including one on mapping the presence of a pyrrhotite across the country and eviction protections for domestic violence and sexual assault victims.

The FY 2019 THUD bill generally maintains the spending gains achieved in by the FY 2018 omnibus bill that increased HUD spending by 10 percent. This is a major victory considering funding for the overall federal budget is not increasing significantly in FY 2019 and the spending allocation for the Senate’s THUD bill was lower than the House THUD allocation. Despite these obstacles, housing programs fared well compared to most of the transportation programs funded by the bill, demonstrating the effectiveness of NAHRO members’ advocacy efforts.

Though the passage of the FY 2019 THUD bill is a major step toward finalizing spending, the path forward from here is unclear. The House FY 2019 THUD bill contains several controversial policy riders (largely transportation-related) and both members of the Democratic Party and the conservative House Freedom Caucus are unhappy with funding levels contained in the bill. As a result, THUD is seen as one of the more controversial spending bills this year and is unlikely to be brought to the House floor as a stand-alone bill.

Because Congress is unlikely to finalize FY 2019 THUD spending before the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1, 2018, a continuing resolution will be needed to keep THUD programs operating. A continuing resolution is a stop-gap bill that maintains previous year spending levels until a set date, allowing Congress additional time to finalize spending. Conversations about a CR have not yet begun in Congress, but like recent years, it’s probable that a CR would last until late November or early December.

On July 26, HUD posted a notice in the Federal Register implementing Public Housing income limits as required by the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA). HOTMA places the threshold for over-income families as those with incomes over 120 percent of area median income (AMI) for the most recent two consecutive years. If a family meets this threshold, public housing authorities (PHAs) have the option of either charging the higher of the fair market rent for the unit or the monthly subsidy (operating and capital fund), or terminating the tenancy within 6 months. Language in HOTMA also provides the Secretary the discretion to establish different income limitations based on local construction costs or unusually high or low incomes, vacancy rates, or rents.

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