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FY09 Approp USDA
FY 2009 Appropriations Update for USDA Housing Programs
Information on HUD appropriations
Information on the Administration’s budget proposal for FY 2009
Final appropriations for FY 2008
All bills and accompanying reports related to FY 2009 appropriations are available at https://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app09.html.
Update March 2, 2009: Omnibus appropriations bill nears completion. An update on FY 2009 appropriations is available here.
Update October 14, 2008: USDA expected to allocate funds to states by end of October. Funds for USDA RD housing do not start flowing immediately when a Continuing Resolution is signed. An RD source has told HAC that RD state offices should receive their first allocations of FY 2009 funds by the end of October. At that time, the agency will be able to proceed with funding loans that have already been approved.
Update September 30, 2008. President Bush has signed into law a Continuing Resolution to fund most federal programs at FY 2008 levels from the beginning of FY 2009 on October 1 through March 6, 2009. There are some exceptions. USDA Section 521 Rental Assistance would be funded at $997 million, the amount needed to renew all expiring contracts, compared to $482.1 million in FY 2008. Section 502 guarantees would receive as much as needed to cover the same amount of mortgage principal as in FY 2008. The CR also directs HUD to renew all expiring Section 8 contracts.
Update July 30, 2008. On July 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill for FY 2009 that would reduce funding for Section 514/516 farmworker housing below 2008 levels and would more than double the multifamily Preservation Revolving Loan Fund. Details are provided in the table below. The bill is available at https://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app09.html.
|
USDA RD Program |
FY 2007 |
FY 2008 |
FY 2009 |
FY 2009 House Subcmte. |
FY 2009 Senate Approp. Cmte. |
|
Loans |
|||||
|
502 Single-Family Direct Loans |
$1,141 |
$1,129.4 |
$0 |
$1,121.5 |
$1,121.5 |
|
502 Single-Family Guaranteed Loans |
3,681 |
4,220 |
4,849 |
4,190.5 |
4,190.5 |
|
504 Very Low-Income Repair Loans |
35 |
34.7 |
17.7 |
34.4 |
34.4 |
|
514 Farm Labor Housing Loans |
38 |
27.7 |
0 |
17.8 |
|
|
515 Rental Housing Direct Loans |
100 |
70 |
0 |
69.5 |
69.5 |
|
538 Rental Housing Guaranteed Loans |
100 |
130 |
300 |
129 |
129.1 |
|
Rental Preservation Revolving Loans |
3 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
6.4 |
|
Grants and Payments |
|||||
|
504 Very Low-Income Repair Grants |
30 |
30 |
30 |
29.8 |
|
|
516 Farm Labor Housing Grants |
14 |
10 |
0 |
7.5 |
|
|
523 Self-Help TA |
34 |
39 |
0 |
38.7 |
38.7 |
|
533 Housing Preservation Grants |
10 |
9 |
12 |
8.9 |
|
|
521 Rental Assistance (b) |
616 |
482.1 |
997 |
1,005 |
1,005 |
|
542 Rural Housing Voucher Program |
16 |
5 |
0 |
15 |
5 |
|
Multifam. Preservation & Revit. Demo (MPR) |
9 |
20 |
0 |
19.9(e) |
19.9 |
|
Rural Community Dev’t Initiative (RCDI) |
6 |
6.3 |
0 |
6.3 |
6.4 |
Update July 15, 2008. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up its FY 2009 agriculture appropriations bill on July 17.
Update July 7, 2008. The National Rural Housing Coalition has learned more details of the FY 2009 funding levels contained in the House Appropriations Subcommittee’s bill, shown in the table above.
a. Figures shown for FY 2007 are before 1 percent across-the-board cut.
b. Rental Assistance contracts were for four years in FY 2006, for two years in FY 2007, and for one year in FY 2008. They will be for one year in FY 2009.
c. The Section 514 and 516 Farm Labor Housing loans and grants are funded from a single account containing $21.54 million.
d. Section 504 grants and the Section 533 HPG program are funded from a single account (Rural Housing Assistance Grants) containing $43.5 million.
e. While $19.9 million would be appropriated for the MPR program, the bill would also rescind $10 million from past MPR appropriations.
Update June 26, 2008. The House Appropriations Committee met on June 26 to consider fiscal year 2009 funding bills for USDA and several other departments, but adjourned a short time later after a partisan dispute on Interior Department funding surfaced. A date to continue the markups has not been established. The House is scheduled to recess for the week of June 30. Read Congressional Quarterly’s article about the committee’s brief session.
June 20, 2008. The House Appropriations Subcommittees for Agriculture and Transportation-HUD (THUD) got the housing budget process underway on June 19 and 20. Some details are available; complete information will be posted here after the full House Appropriations Committee acts on these bills during the week of June 23. Current predictions are that final appropriations bills may not be completed until after the fall election.
On June 19 the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY 2009 USDA appropriations bill. The National Rural Housing Coalition reports that the Subcommittee rejected the rural housing cuts proposed in the Administration’s budget and continued programs at their current funding levels. A press release from Subcommittee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) is available here. (Note that Rep. DeLauro’s press release shows the amount of money allocated by the government for each program (“budget authority”), not the final dollars available for each (“program level”).)
The top Republican on the full Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-California) indicated that at least one housing program may face opposition when the bill is considered by the full committee: Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants. Lewis’s press release is available here and includes the following:
Lewis also said that there are programs in the bill that could be scaled back or eliminated, such as the farm labor construction grants and loans, because they are duplicative, not widely used, no longer necessary, or have a proven track record of poor performance.
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Georgia), ranking Republican on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, also expressed concerns about continuing Section 514/516 funding in his opening remarks before the subcommittee’s markup:
I am concerned about the continuation of 2008 funding for Farm Labor grants and loans in 2009 for construction of facilities for farm laborers. I am concerned not only because the program cannot really function properly without substantial rental assistance and a deep subsidy, I am also concerned because the program is limited to domestic farm workers which means that the program is not widely used by many states.
But most importantly the Department has made a compelling case this program is no longer useful to those who need and supply housing for farm labor. Instead, farm owners are increasingly opting for Low Income Housing Tax Credits as the vehicle for construction and rental assistance to farm workers. This reflects the changing nature of farm labor and farm businesses. In spite of the superficial politics of such an increase, a careful review of this program by the Committee is in order. We should not be funding programs that are not being used or are not useful to the users.
_____________________________
Posted: June 20, 2008
Last Updated: March 2, 2009
If you have problems accessing any of the material on this page, contact Leslie Strauss at HAC, leslie@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600.