Subcommittee Markup to be held tomorrow, Wednesday, July 8
Earlier today, Tuesday, July 7, the House Appropriations Committee released its Fiscal Year 2021 Funding bill for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. This is a draft of the House version of the Bill, and any final bill passed by the House will also have to be reconciled with Senate appropriations bills that are still forthcoming. The Press Release from the House Appropriations Committee, which includes a good summary of the full bill, can be found here.
The T-HUD Subcommittee, led by Representative David Price (D-NC), will markup the bill on Wednesday, July 7, beginning at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. The link to the live webcast of the markup can be found here.
The House proposal comes close to the industry joint funding needs request sent to legislators earlier this year, with increases above 2020 approved levels in nearly every category. These include Public Housing Operating Funds at $4.649 billion, only $10 million less than the industry’s request, and HAP renewals at $22.852 billion, $73 million more than the request. Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Fees are proposed at $2.155 billion, almost $300 million less than the industry request (but more than 2020 appropriations), and the Public Housing Capital Fund is proposed at $3.18 billion, above the 2020 appropriated level but well below the industry’s $5 billion request for FY21 and the public housing capital needs backlog that PHADA has estimated as over $70 billion. Many of these proposed appropriations also have significant set-asides within each category, and do not include considerations for increased costs associated with the COVI-19 pandemic. PHADA will carefully review the bill, proposed set-asides, and other provisions in the coming days.
To make up for the limited funding available under existing budget caps, and in recognition of growing housing and economic needs in light of the COVID19 pandemic, the bill also includes additional emergency appropriations “to bolster communities nationwide by making robust and resilient investments in public housing, affordable housing, and community development.” These proposed supplemental emergency economic stimulus appropriations, which include an additional $24.25 billion for the public housing capital fund, $300 million for Choice Neighborhoods, $4 billion for CDBG and $17.5 billion for HOME, are likely to face significant opposition, especially in the Senate. PHADA strongly supports these additional proposed appropriations and will work diligently for inclusion of supplemental Public Housing Capital Funding in any final bill.
PHADA will provide additional analysis of the bill following tomorrow’s mark-up hearing.