“As both the number and share of older households in the United States increase to unprecedented levels, inequalities are becoming more evident,” says the introduction to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University’s Housing America’s Older Adults 2019.
The Senate passed its fiscal year 2020 HUD appropriations bill on October 31. The House passed its HUD FY20 appropriations bill in June. The two bills must be reconciled. Before the two can be reconciled, House and Senate Appropriations Committees must agree on spending limits for each of the 12 subcommittees, including the one that funds HUD. Without this subcommittee allocation agreement, the enactment of a final bill cannot occur.
Congress has just over a month to complete the FY20 HUD appropriations bill or HUD and providers could be faced with another Continuing Resolution. The current Continuing Resolution keeps HUD and other federal programs funded at FY19 levels through November 21. LeadingAge is urging its members to reach out to their representatives and senators in support of strong funding for affordable housing for older adults.
Here’s an overview of our work for you in September 2019.
Given what LeadingAge understands to be contract renewal needs in the Section 202 account, the Senate bill would not fund any new 202 homes (compared to the House bill, which would provide $140 million for new Section 202 homes in FY20). The Senate bill’s lack of funding for new Section 202 homes is greatly concerning to LeadingAge. Advocates are urged to respond to a forthcoming action alert on the subject. Given the extreme need for affordable housing for older adults with very low incomes, LeadingAge is seeking $600 million for new Section 202 homes in FY20.
The Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) was enacted on July 29, 2016 and contained several long-advocated for provisions intended to streamline administrative processes and reduce burdens on public housing agencies (PHAs) and private owners. This proposed rule would revise HUD regulations to put sections 102, 103, and 104 of HOTMA into effect, though changes would not actually be implemented until the beginning of the calendar year after HUD has issued an
HUD’s Housing Finance Reform Plan largely focuses on reforming the work of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The plan calls for FHA to be a stand-alone government corporation within HUD. “To modernize FHA, Congress should re-charter it as an autonomous government corporation within HUD, which would provide the agency tools and resources necessary to make appropriate risk decisions to respond to changing markets,” the plan says.
Continuing Resolution
A Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund HUD programs after the October 1 start or fiscal year 2020 is all but guaranteed. Right now, talks are underway on Capitol Hill for a CR that lasts until sometime in November or even December.
On September 5, 2019, HUD released the long-anticipated implementing instructions for accessing new resources for the recapitalization of 202/PRAC properties.
It is hard to tell how many applications will be received for the current $50 million under the FY18 notice of funding availability (NOFA) because of certain challenges identified by LeadingAge members, challenges which have been shared with HUD in hopes of modifying the competition requirements in the next round. And a second tranche, including the balance of the FY18 funds and all the FY19 funds, is expected to be released in a second NOFA in 2020.
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