Announcements
Jennifer Emerling / There Is More Work To Be Done
Jennifer Emerling / There Is More Work To Be Done
Economic Stimulus FY09
Economic Stimulus Legislation Enacted
Housing Included
Section 502, NSP, Other Housing Funds Included in Final Stimulus Bill. February 17, 2009. President Barack Obama signed into Law H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Revitalization Act of 2009, as passed by the Congress on February 13. The final bill would fund $1 billion in direct Section 502 loans and $10.472 billion in Section 502 guaranteed loans, as well as numerous HUD programs and rural community facilities, business, and water/wastewater programs. Details are in the table below.
The final bill requires that at least 10 percent of the spending for each of the RD community facilities, business, and water/waste programs in the bill must be allocated to persistent poverty counties. These are defined as counties with poverty rates of 20 percent or more in the 1980, 1990, and 2000 decennial censuses. (This does not apply to Sec. 502 funding.)
Updated February 19.
|
Program |
H.R. 1 Final version |
|---|---|
|
USDA Sec. 502 direct |
$1 billion |
|
USDA Sec. 502 guaranteed |
$10.472 billion |
|
HUD HOME |
$2.25 billion |
|
HUD CDBG |
$1 billion |
|
HUD Native Amer. Block Grants |
$510 million |
|
HUD Public Hsg. Capital Fund |
$4 billion |
|
HUD Neighbrhd Stablztn Prog. |
$2 billion |
|
HUD Emergency Shelter Grants Prog. |
$1.5 billion |
|
HUD Lead Hazard Reduction |
$100 million |
|
HUD SHOP |
0 |
|
Energy refrofits for HUD-assisted rental housing |
$250 million |
|
USDA Rural Cmnty. Facilities |
$1.171 billion loans |
|
USDA Rural Water and Waste Loans and Grants |
$2.82 billion loans |
|
USDA Rural Business Loans and Grants |
$2.99 billion loans |
Senate Reaches Possible Agreement on Recovery Bill, May Vote February 10. February 9, 2009. After several days of debate and hundreds of amendments, the Senate is reportedly close to approving its version of the economic recovery and revitalization bill. The bill, called the Collins-Nelson Amendment to H.R. 1, and a summary of it, are available at the Senate Appropriations Committee website. After the Senate passes a bill, a House-Senate conference committee will need to work out the differences between the Senate’s bill and the House version of H.R. 1 (which is now available at https://thomas.loc.gov).
At midday on Monday, February 9, the Senate bill funds several rural housing and development programs, but at lower levels than the House provided. Like the House bill, it does not include funds for the National Housing Trust Fund; unlike the House bill, it also provides nothing for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
The following table summarizes the differences between the House and Senate bills regarding assisted housing spending.
|
Program |
H.R. 1 passed by House 1/28/09 |
Collins-Nelson Amdt. in Senate 2/9/09 |
|---|---|---|
|
USDA Sec. 502 direct |
$4 billion |
$1 billion |
|
USDA Sec. 502 guaranteed |
$18 billion |
$10.5 billion |
|
HUD HOME |
$1.5 billion |
$2.25 billion* |
|
HUD CDBG |
$1 billion |
0 |
|
HUD Native Amer. Block Grants |
$500 million |
$510 million |
|
HUD Public Hsg. Capital Fund |
$5 billion |
$5 billion |
|
HUD Neighbrhd Stablztn Prog. |
$4.19 billion |
0 |
|
HUD Emergency Shelter Grants Prog. |
$1.5 billion |
$1.5 billion |
|
HUD Lead Hazard Reduction |
$100 million |
$100 million |
|
HUD SHOP |
$10 million |
0 |
|
HUD Proj.-Based Section 8** |
$2.5 billion |
$2.25 billion |
|
USDA Rural Broadband |
$6 billion |
$3.3 billion |
|
USDA Rural Cmnty. Facilities |
$1.2 billion |
*** |
|
USDA Rural Water and Waste Loans and Grants |
$3.8 billion |
$3.8 billion |
|
USDA Rural Business Loans and Grants |
$2 billion |
$3 billion |
|
Homebuyer tax credit |
0 |
$35 billion |
* $2 billion of the Senate’s $2.25 billion would be used to fill gaps in Low Income Housing Tax Credit financing.
**The House bill allocates part of its Section 8 funds for energy-efficient retrofits of HUD-funded rental housing. The Senate bill has no provision for energy retrofits.
***The House bill provides $200 million in actual government spending to support a program level of $1.2 billion. The Senate bill probvides $127 million in spending but does not indicate the expected program level.
A more detailed table is available on the National Housing Conference’s Open House blog.
Senate Committee Approves Recovery Bill, House Passes Different Version. January 29, 2009. The full House of Representatives passed H.R. 1 on January 28 and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a different measure, S. 336, on January 27. The Senate committee’s bill, report, and press release are available on the committee’s website, and the House bill is posted at https://thomas.loc.gov (search by bill number).
Like the House bill (summarized below), S. 336 would provide funds for a variety of rural housing and economic development programs. It would fund the Section 502 direct and guaranteed programs at lower levels than the House: $200 million in budget authority (actual federal spending) to support $1 billion in direct loans and $10.5 billion in guaranteed loans for a total of about 105,000 units.
Senators Introduce Rural Revitalization Act of 2009. January 26, 2009. Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) have introduced S. 323, the Rural Revitalization Act of 2009, which would fund a number of rural programs, including the Section 502 direct and guaranteed loan programs. Like H.R. 1, it would provides $4 billion for direct loans and $18 billion in unsubsidized guaranteed loans. The full text of S. 323 is available here.
Full Text of H.R. 1, House Appropriations Committee Bill, Available. January 26, 2009. The House Appropriations Committee’s economic recovery bill (summarized below) has been numbered H.R. 1 and is available on the Committee’s website.
Senate Committee Releases Highlights of its Proposal. January 23, 2009. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up a proposed bill on January 27. The proposed appropriations bill, along with tax cuts and new spending proposed by the Senate Finance Committee, totals $825 billion, according to the Appropriations Committee’s press release listing highlights of its bill. The text of the bill is not yet available. The summary includes a number of housing-related items (and there may be others in the bill itself):
- $2.25 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program block grant to enable state and local governments, in partnership with community-based organizations, to acquire, construct, and rehabilitate affordable housing and provide rental assistance to poor families.
- $5 billion to the public housing capital fund to enable local public housing agencies to address a $32 billion backlog in capital needs – especially those improving energy efficiency in aging developments.
- $2.1 billion for full-year payments to owners receiving Section 8 project-based rental assistance.
- Neighborhood Stabilization Program – The bill includes $2.25 billion for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes.
- Homeless Prevention Fund – The bill includes $1.5 billion for homeless prevention activities, which will be sent out to states, cities and local governments through the emergency shelter grant formula.
- $1.4 billion to support $3.8 billion in loans and grants for needed water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas.
- Community Development Financial Institutions: $250 million to immediately provide capital to qualified community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to invest in the development of underserved communities.
- Homeowners Assistance Program: $410 million to expand the Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP) during the national mortgage crisis.
House Working on Bill. January 23, 2009. The House may vote during the week of January 26 on its proposed $825 billion, two-year economic stimulus package. The bill, approved by the House Appropriations Committee and now under review by several other committees, is described below.
Rural Housing Included in House Bill. January 15, 2009. Rural housing may get a big boost in an $825 billion, two-year economic stimulus package unveiled on January 15 by the House Appropriations Committee. The draft bill includes funds for both HUD and USDA housing programs, plus support for other USDA Rural Development initiatives. Not included in the bill are the National Housing Trust Fund, Section 8, rural rental programs, and some other housing programs that had been sought by advocates.
Included are:
- $500 million to support $22 billion in USDA Section 502 direct and guaranteed rural single-family loans. (This could mean $4 billion in direct and $18 billion in guaranteed loans, a huge increase over recent annual levels.)
- $1.5 billion in HOME funds to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies.
- $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants targeted to housing and services.
- $500 million in Native American Housing Block Grants to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency for units in Native American housing programs.
- $5 billion in the Public Housing Capital Fund for building repair and modernization, including critical safety repairs.
- $4.2 billion in the new Neighborhood Stabilization Program to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant properties.
- $1.5 billion for the HUD Emergency Shelter Grant program to provide short term rental assistance, housing relocation, and stabilization services for families.
- $100 million for competitive grants to local governments and nonprofits to remove lead-based paint hazards in low-income housing.
- $2.5 billion for a new competitive program for energy-efficient housing retrofits — to upgrade HUD sponsored low-income housing to increase energy efficiency with new insulation, windows, and furnaces.
- $6 billion to expand broadband internet access to rural and other underserved areas.
- $200 million in the USDA Rural Community Facilities program to support $1.2 billion in grants and loans for such critical community facilities as healthcare, education, fire and rescue, day care, community centers, and libraries.
- $1.5 billion in USDA rural water and waste funds to support $3.8 billion in grants and loans to help communities fund water and wastewater systems.
- $100 million for USDA rural business grants and loans to guarantee $2 billion in loans for rural businesses.
The House Approprations Committee is expected to consider the bill the week of January 19. Congress hopes to send a final bill to President Obama by mid-February.
The House Appropriations Committee’s website provides the full text of the bill, an explanatory report, and a summary.
HAC’s recommendations for rural housing funding in the economic recovery package are available here.
Posted: January 16, 2009
Last updated: February 13, 2009