HAC News

Hac News: March 4, 2009

Access a pdf version of this HAC News. • FY 2009 spending bill nears completion • Obama budget outline for 2010 released • Allocation of stimulus funding begins, web resources established • HUD seeks suggestions for NAHASDA committee • OMB invites comments on its review of regulations • Senate report addresses housing response errors after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita • HUD extends DHAP assistance for hurricane survivors • HUDclips website changed again • Per capita income higher in rural areas than urban

March 4 , 2009
Vol. 38, No. 5

FY 2009 spending bill nears completion. The House of Representatives on February 25 passed H.R. 1105, an omnibus appropriations bill to fund federal programs for fiscal 2009. The Senate is now considering the bill, with the current CR set to expire on March 6. Most HUD and USDA programs received increases or level funding. For USDA rural housing, the bill does not accept the drastic cuts in the Bush administration’s original 2009 budget proposal. The text of H.R. 1105 and an explanatory statement are available at https://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app09.html.

USDA Rural Development Program
(dollars in millions)

FY 2008 Approp.

FY 2009 Proposed Budget

FY 2009 Omnibus Bill
H.R. 1105

Loans

502 Single Fam. Direct

$1,129.4

$0

$1,121.5

502 Single Family Guar.

4,220

4,849

6,223.9

504 Very Low-inc. Repair

34.7

17.7

34.4

514 Farm Labor Hsg.

27.7

0

20

515 Rental Hsg. Direct

70

0

69.5

538 Rental Hsg. Guar.

130

300

129.1

Rental Prsrv. Revlg. Loans

3

0

2.9

Grants and Payments

504 Very Low-inc. Repair

30

30

29.7

516 Farm Labor Hsg.

10

0

9.1

523 Self-Help TA

39

0

38.7

533 Hsg. Prsrv. Grants

9

12

8.9

521 Rental Assistance (a)

482.1

997

902.5

542 Rural Hsg. Vouchers

5

0

5

Multifam. Prsrv. & Revit. (MPR)

20

0

20

Rural Cmnty. Dev’t Init.

6.3

0

6.3

a. Rental Assistance contracts were for four years in FY 2006, two years in FY 2007, and one year in FYs 2008 and 2009. H.R. 1105 includes $2 million in RA for new Section 515 units and $3.4 million for new Section 514/516 units.

HUD Program
(dollars in millions)

FY 2008 Approp.

FY 2009 Proposed Budget

FY 2009 Omnibus Bill
H.R. 1105

Cmty. Devel. Block Grants
(Econ. Devel. Init. Grants)

$3,865.8

$3,000

$3,900
(165.3)

HOME

1,704

1,967

1,825

Tenant-Based Rental Asstnce.
(inc. HUD-VASH Vets. Vouchers)

16,426

16,039

16,817

Project-Based Rental Asstnce.

6,381.8

7,000

7,100

Public Hsg. Capital Fund

2,439

2,024

2,450

Public Hsg. Operating Fund

4,200

4,300

4,455

Pub. Hsg. Revtlztn. (HOPE VI)

100

0

120

Native Amer. Hsg. Block Grant

630

627

645

Housing Opp. for Persns w/AIDs

300.1

300.1

310

Homeless Assistance Grants

1,586

1,636

1,677

202 Housing for Elderly

735

540

765

811 Housing for Disabled

237

160

250

Fair Housing

50

51

53.5

Rural Hsg. & Ec. Dev. (RHED)

17

0

26 (a)

Self-Help Hmownshp. (SHOP)

26.5

39

26.5

Lead Hazard Control

145

116

140

Housing Counseling

50

65

65

a. Includes $5.0 million for tribal economic development and entrepreneurship.

Obama budget outline for 2010 released. Housing programs fared well in the summary of President Obama’s first budget, released February 26. Full details are coming in April. No details were available on USDA housing, but HUD programs would include $4.5 billion for CDBG, a first ever $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund, increased funding for Housing Choice Vouchers and Project-Based Rental Assistance, a new energy innovation fund, and a New Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (for “transformative interventions in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty”). The outline states, without details, that reforms to HUD’s Rural Housing and Economic Development program will be suggested. Budget documents are available at https://www.omb.gov.

Allocation of stimulus funding begins, web resources established. A summary of the American Recovery and Revitalization Act’s changes to HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program is posted at https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/public_policy/legislative.asp. HUD’s use of NSP and other funds, including allocations to specific places, is described at https://www.hud.gov/recovery and its homelessness prevention plans are at https://www.hudhre.info. Information about USDA’s allocation of new Section 502 direct and guaranteed funds should become available at https://www.usda.gov/recovery. The Administration’s site for the entire federal government’s recovery efforts is https://www.recovery.gov.

HUD seeks suggestions for NAHASDA committee. Nominations are due May 1 for a negotiated rulemaking committee to implement changes adopted in the 2008 law reauthorizing the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act. See Federal Register, 3/2/09, pp. 9100-01 or https://www.regulations.gov. Contact Rodger J. Boyd, HUD, 202-401-7914.

OMB invites comments on its review of regulations. The Office of Management and Budget will accept comments by March 16 on the principles and procedures governing its review of proposed federal regulations, as it develops recommendations for changes requested by President Obama. See Federal Register, 2/26/09, p. 8819. Contact Mabel Echols, OMB, 202-395-6880.

Senate report addresses housing response errors after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Far From Home: Deficiencies in Federal Disaster Housing Assistance after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Recommendations for Improvement, by the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, is free at https://landrieu.senate.gov/releases/09/2009226C39.html.

HUD extends DHAP assistance for hurricane survivors. Disaster Housing Assistance Program vouchers will be available through August 31 for renters holding DHAP vouchers issued after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and for others eligible for HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher program. Visit https://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/publications/hurricane.cfm or contact a local PHA for details.

HUDclips website changed again. The site providing access to HUD policies, procedures, notices, and more is now https://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/index.cfm (see HAC News, 1/16/08).

Per capita income higher in rural areas than urban. The Economic Research Service reports that in fiscal year 2005, for the first time in its almost 40 years of analysis, rural areas received more in total per capita federal funding ($7,473) than urban areas ($7,391). ERS suggests the change is related to urban homebuyers’ increased use of subprime mortgages from private lenders instead of federally insured mortgages in 2005. Visit https://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/March09/Findings/RuralFederalFunding.htm