Related Bill: H.R. 4635

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have passed their versions of the VA/HUD spending bill, although the full Senate has yet to consider the bill. To date, the strategy has been to leverage short-term, one week Continuing Resolutions. Advocates believe it is likely that HUD will be settled via an omnibus bill.

Senate gave HUD $30.65 billion, while the House gave HUD only $30 billion. For the most part, the Senate bill allocates higher levels than the House version, however much of this increase comes from carrying forward unspent Section 8 rental assistance funds and a $4.2 billion advance appropriations under the FY00 bill. The Senate bill also includes the Housing Needs Act of 2000, a new program to provide funds to State Housing Finance Agencies for development, rehab, and preservation of low-income housing. The Senate version also restores much of the CDBG funds stripped away by the House. However, much of the funding reinstated by the Senate is earmarked for special projects.

Additionally, the Senate Appropriations Committee eliminated Secretary Cuomo?s request for 120,000 new incremental Section 8 vouchers. Instead, the Committee supported a proposal by Senator Kit Bond that creates a $1 billion block grant funded by recapture of unused Section 8 dollars. Money from the block grant would be used to build more affordable housing. HUD estimates that housing agencies have yet to spend approximately $1.4 billion in previously allocated Section 8 funds. The House does not eliminate Section 8 vouchers, but it only approved 10,000 for public housing authorities that have a 97% or greater Section 8 annual utilization rate.

Meanwhile, the Senate Housing Subcommittee continues to debate uses for the projected $5 billion FHA surplus. Subcommittee Chairman Allard has proposed a Homeowner?s Rebate Act, which would give back mortgage insurance overpayments to buyers. Senator Kerry has proposed that the funds be used to establish an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which would distribute the excess funds to states and localities to build more low-income housing.

Senator Gramm is still pushing to eliminate the notion of a production program altogether. However, advocates believe that the idea of a production program will survive since HUD seems to be working with Senators Bond and Kerry. The central question is what the program will look like.

a Includes $4.2 billion in advance appropriations.
b FY01 Sect. 8 funding includes recapture of existing, but unspent, Sect. 8 dollars.
c The Senate Appropriations Committee bill authorizes that some of the funds be dedicated to MIS and data collection.
d The Senate Appropriations Committee includes $10 million for capacity building and new programs in underserved and rural areas.

Click here for more information about:

• FY 2001 Appropriations Process
• USDA Budget
• New Markets Initiatives