FY14 Budget Agreement for Housing, HUD Programs, and Homelessness: Deep Cuts Avoided But Still Insufficient Funding

The following information is shared by 'Housing Action Illinois' ...

On January 16, the House and Senate finally passed a fiscal year 2014 federal budget, more than three months after the beginning of the fiscal year.  The final budget represented a compromise between the House and Senate, so does not contain the deep cuts feared, but also does not have adequate funding to maintain existing resources, let alone reduce the existing shortage of affordable housing.  President Obama should sign the budget into law in the next day or so.

Here are the FY14 budget amounts for selected programs compared to FY13 pre-sequestration levels:

• $17.36 billion for Housing Choice Voucher renewals, a small increase and likely sufficient to renew all vouchers currently in use.  There was a significant increase for Tenant Protection Vouchers, to $130 million, and level funding for vouchers for people with disabilities and veterans.
• $4.4 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund, a small increase but less than the amount needed, so so public housing authorities (PHAs) will once again receive pro-rated amounts for their operating subsidies.
• $1.87 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, level funding.
• $9.91 billion for Project-Based Rental Assistance, an increase but still not enough level to end the practice of short funding contracts.  There are concerns that continuation of this practice may contribute to property owners opting out of their contracts, causing a loss of affordable units.
• $1 billion for the HOME program, level funding.
• $2.1 billion for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, an $80 million increase. This funding level should include enough funding to cover all FY 2013 housing project renewals, and at least $250 million for the Emergency Solutions Grant Program (ESG), but there will be no money for new projects.
• $384 million for Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, a $9 million increase.
• $126 million for Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities, a $39 million reduction.
• $330 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS program, a $2 million decrease.
• $45 million for the Housing Counseling program, level funding.
• 3.03 billion for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program, a very small increase.

The budget summary by the National Low Income Housing Coalition provides much more detail on these other line items in the budgets for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and rural housing programs within and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).