Federal Homeless Policy Update
In July’s STREET SHEET we reported on the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the 2006 fiscal year HUD appropriations bill. Since that time the U.S. Senate appropriations committee has followed suit with its own version, approving a bill on July 21. The Senate will vote on final passage of the bill shortly after Congress returns from the August recess, at which point Senate and House negotiators will work out differences between the two bills.
Not surprisingly, the Senate only nominally moved the abacus beads from where the House left off. Section 8 tenant-based assistance was funded at $15.6 billion, $209 million less than the President’s budget request, while Section 8 project-based assistance was funded at $5 billion, roughly $226 million below its FY 2005 level. Federal funding of Section 8 vouchers continues a steep decline.
Consider the following: President Gerald Ford’s last budet in 1976 included a request for 506,000 new vouchers. In 2001, Congress appropriated money for 79,000 incremental vouchers; in 2002, the number of incremental vouchers dropped to 18,000; and in 2003, 2004, and 2005 Congress didn’t fund any incremental vouchers.
On other fronts, the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program was funded at $287 million, or $5 million above the FY05 level and $19 million above the budget request. Housing for the elderly and disabled housing were both flat-funded at their same 2005 levels, or $742 million and $240 million, respectively.
HUD McKinney-Vento homeless assistance grants received $1.415 billion, $75 million more than the House bill. As in the House version, however, the Senate bill includes a requirement that at least 30% of total McKinney-Vento dollars (excluding permanent housing renewals under the Shelter Plus Care program) be used to fund supportive housing projects.
Permanent housing, for which non-disabled families are not eligible, now exceeds 50% of the total grant program. Beyond any funding for new permanent housing projects, an estimated $468 million will be needed just to renew existing permanent housing contracts. What this means is that as Congress modestly increases homeless assistance each year, we’ll see less and less resources available for anything that doesn’t subscribe to the Bush Administration’s “chronic homeless initiative.” Transitional housing, supportive services, and emergency shelter will continue to be squeezed as Congress, HUD and the ICH continue to attempt to address the affordable housing crisis through the emergency response programs of McKinney-Vento and use those programs as a vehicle for the “chronic” initiative.
To date, the 30% requirement has been enacted only through the annual appropriations process. However, efforts to make the 30% requirement permanent law are already underway, as U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) is expected to introduce legislation reauthorizing HUD McKinney-Vento homeless assistance programs the week of July 24th. Advocates should contact their full Congressional delegation and urge them to oppose any effort to authorize the 30% set aside within HUD McKinney-Vento legislation.
For a textbook example of the importance of reading the fine print, consider this jewel of an example of how things work in the nation’s capital. Buried in the corners of the Senate transportation and housing bill is a $50 million dollar item to create something called the “Affordable Housing Technical Assistance Board.” This group would be composed of “respected national non-profits” who would help local communities deal with the “overly complex” nature of HUD programs.
The funding source for this board would not be new money, but rather dollars transferred from Section 8, CDBG, HOME, homeless assistance grants, housing for the disabled, housing for the elderly, and, Native American Housing Block. That’s right, rather than actually do something about those overly complex HUD rules, the bill proposes to take money from affordable housing programs to pay for this board, who will then tell us that we don’t have enough money for affordable housing.
Yes, indeed; a perfect DC racket.
The US Interagency Council on Homelessness’ (ICH) rolling Ten Year Plan and self-promotional road show appears to have it hit a severe speed bump in the form of the U.S. House HUD appropriations bill (HR3058). In its bill, the House chose to reject the President’s request to increase the agency’s funding by 28% and also raised serious questions over the effectiveness and direction of ICH.
Specifically, the Transportation and Housing Committee cited “staff turnover and the continued lack of cooperation between the Council and the Department of Housing and Urban Development,” as well as a “failure of the Administration to put forth a comprehensive funding plan for the elimination of chronic homelessness which includes other mainstream programs,” and represents a “government-wide response to this national problem.” Toward that end, the House committee required ICH to “demonstrate that the President’s initiative to end chronic homelessness will achieve its result within the 10 year timeframe originally stated.”
Brad
