Goal is to ensure that low-income Americans have a place to call home
Adds 10,000 VASH Vouchers
According to the House Appropriation Committee’s Bill Summary: As Passed by the Full Committee, the bill ensures “that low-income Americans have a place to call home during the tough economy and the mortgage crisis, the bill invests in programs for vulnerable populations, including Section 8 Rental Assistance, Housing for Persons with AIDS, and Housing for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities. The bill also encourages and funds investments in sustainability through capital funding for public housing.”
The Advocacy Network had published last week an update – House Subcommittee Approves FY10 HUD Budget – which indicated the support of the House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee for the HUD budget.
Now that it has been approved by the full Appropriations Committee it will proceed to the floor for a full House vote.
Among the items noted in Bill Summary: As Passed by the Full Committee are:
Providing Assistance to Vulnerable Populations in Tough Times
- Public Housing Capital Fund: $2.5 billion, $256 million above the request and $50 million above 2009, for Public Housing Authorities to make critical repairs and improvements to public housing units and improve living conditions for residents.
- Public Housing Operating Fund: $4.8 billion, $200 million above the request and $345 million above 2009, for maintenance, crime prevention and energy costs. HUD and the PHAs have determined $5.3 billion is needed in 2010.
- Section 8 Tenant Based Vouchers: $18.2 billion, $406 million above the request and $1.2 billion above 2009, to support 2.1 million vouchers to individuals and families.
- Veterans Affairs Housing Vouchers: $75 million, matching 2009 and $75 million above the request, to provide 10,000 housing vouchers for homeless veterans.
- Section 8 Project Based Vouchers: $8.7 billion, $600 million above the request and $1.6 billion above 2009, to provide affordable housing to 1.3 million low-income families and individuals, two-thirds of whom are elderly or disabled.
- Housing for the Elderly: $1 billion, $235 million above the President’s request and the level provided in fiscal year 2009, to rehabilitate and build housing for low-income elderly people. Ten eligible seniors are on the waiting list for every one unit of housing available.
- Housing for the Disabled: $350 million, $100 million above the request and 2009, for grants to rehabilitate and build housing for disabled people.
- Homeless Assistance Grants: $1.85 billion, $56 million above the request and $173 million above 2009, for grants to local communities to provide housing and services for the homeless. This increase will help fund new competitive projects in communities with capacity and demonstrated need for this housing.
- Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation: $196.8 million, $30 million above the request and $15.8 million above 2009, to provide counseling for families in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.
- Housing for Persons with AIDS: $350 million, $40 million above the request and 2009, to help address homelessness within this vulnerable population.
- Housing Counseling Assistance: $70 million, $30 million below the request and $5 million above 2009, to continue pre-purchase counseling for prospective home buyers.
Revitalizing Local Communities
- Community Development Block Grants: $4.6 billion, $174 million above the request and $725 million above 2009, to fund community and economic development projects in 1,180 localities.
- Brownfields Redevelopment: $25 million, $15 million above 2009 and $25 million above the request, to remove blight and spur economic development on formerly vacant commercial and industrial sites.
- HOPE VI: $250 million, $130 million above 2009, to fund competitive grants to transform neighborhoods of extreme poverty into sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods through the demolition of severely distressed public housing.
