Contact: Lisa Sanders
lsanders@leadingage.org / 202-508-9407
On February 7, HUD announced $51.5 million in awards to 18 organizations to build and operate affordable housing for very low income older adults. LeadingAge is thrilled to share that HUD has awarded 11 LeadingAge members a total of $32.8 million of funding for Section 202 Housing for the Elderly. LeadingAge has been tirelessly advocating for new Section 202 funding, and our efforts are paying off.
On February 6, LeadingAge and the National Housing Trust sent a letter to the lead sponsors of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act in support of the bill’s language to modify and clarify nonprofit rights to purchase properties financed with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit.
A new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, America’s Rental Housing 2020, details the current rental market and its severe affordability challenges.
The Trump Administration is working to change “affirmatively furthering fair housing” (AFFH) requirements that help enforce the Fair Housing Act, change the way 85% of the banks covered by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) meet CRA standards to invest in low and moderate-income communities, and make the path to citizenship for immigrants using certain public benefits more difficult.
LeadingAge is concerned that the changes will weaken communities’ obligations to fair housing, lessen resources for affordable housing, and discourage older adults from receiving needed assistance.
On January 14, HUD published a proposed rule that would replace a key Fair Housing Act enforcement tool to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) with a weaker version of the one developed in 2015 by the Obama Administration.
LeadingAge has learned that given the number of Section 202 communities with Project Rental Assistance Contracts (PRACs) that requested larger rent increases to prepare for recapitalization in fiscal year 2019 (FY19), HUD plans to develop new guidance for HUD staff to evaluate these requests and prioritize those properties with the greatest need. According to HUD, many Section 202 PRAC owners have been requesting increases even for younger PRACs, and even with a final fiscal year 2020 HUD appropriations bill in place HUD cannot fully fund every request.
House and Senate leaders have announced plans to pass two large fiscal year 2020 spending packages to fund all federal programs before the current Continuing Resolution expires on December 20.
One of the two bills will include appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Health and Human Services. House and Senate negotiators have been negotiating differences between their chambers in order to avoid a third Continuing Resolution or a government shutdown after the December 20 deadline.
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