The FY 2012 minibus conference report has been issued and now ready for the vote with cuts to housing and a continuing resolution. This includes both RD programs and HUD housing programs.

Last week the House held hearings on HOME program fraud. Along with that the Washington Post is reporting widespread problems of reporting and accounting.

Coburn Amendment to Cut Rural Development

When the Senate returns from recess next week, it will resume consideration of H.R. 2112, the FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. Among the amendments under consideration is No. 800, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), which proposes a $1 billion reduction in rural development programs. This is about a 40% cut from the levels recommended in the Senate’s bill.

The National Rural Housing Coalition has drafted a letter to send to the Senate urging members to vote “NO” on the Coburn amendment. If you wish to sign on please follow this link

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5172/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8587

and fill out the form below the letter. The closing date for signatures is Friday, October 28

Less money for HOME,  CDBG, Public Housing

FY 2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill Subcommittee Mark  September 20, 2011

Providing housing and services to our Nation’s most vulnerable Section 8 Tenant-based rental assistance: $18.9 billion for housing choice vouchers. This level of funding is $501 million above the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. This funding is critical to ensuring that our Nation’s low-income families, especially those hit hard by the recession, can maintain safe, affordable housing. It includes: . $17.14 billion for the renewal of current housing choice vouchers and $1.4 billion for program administration; . $75 million for 11,000 new HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers for homeless veterans; . $60 million for the Family Self-Sufficiency program; and . $5 million to support a homeless demonstration program.

Public Housing: $1.9 billion for the public housing capital fund, a decrease of $165 million below the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. This funding will help preserve and improve public housing. The bill also includes $4 billion for the public housing operating fund, which is $655 million below the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. The language allows the Secretary to offset PHA’s excess reserves, but limits the allowable offset to $750 million. Project-based rental assistance: $9.4 billion for the project-based section 8 program, including over $9.1 billion for the renewal of all expiring project-based contracts for a full 12 months. This level of funding is $161 million above the fiscal year 2011 enacted level.

Homeless Assistance grants: $1.9 billion for homeless assistance grants. This level of funding is equal to the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. In response to the increase in family homelessness, the bill includes $286 million for the Emergency Solutions Grant program to prevent families from becoming homeless, or rapidly re-house those that are homeless.

Native American housing block grants: $650 million for Native American housing block grants. This level of funding will support the housing and community development needs of Native Americans.

Supporting our communities and addressing the foreclosure crisis Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): $2.85 billion is provided for CDBG grant funding for States and communities across the Nation. This is $485 million below the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. This funding will assist states and communities that are still struggling as the economy recovers with their continued efforts to invest in and support the needs of low- income communities.

HOME Investment Partnership: $1 billion for the HOME Investment Partnership program, which is $607 less than the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. This funding supports the creation and rehabilitation of low-income housing across the country. The bill also includes reforms to ensure that funds are used in a timely fashion for worthy projects.

Housing Counseling: A total of $125 million for housing counseling efforts. This includes $60 million for HUD’s housing counseling activities, including Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) counseling and pre-purchase counseling. In addition, $65 million is included to continue the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program that began in fiscal year 2008.

Investing in transportation infrastructure Funding for Significant Transportation Projects (“TIGER” program): $550 million for grants to support significant transportation projects in a wide variety of modes, including highways and bridges, public transportation, passenger and freight railroads, and port infrastructure. The bill requires the Secretary to allocate no less than $120 million for projects in rural communities. The funding level included in the bill is $23 million higher than the fiscal year 2011 enacted level.

Highway Investments: $41.1 billion for the Federal-aid Highway program to support essential investments in roads and bridges in every State across the country. This funding level is equal to the fiscal year 2011 enacted level. The bill does not include any rescission of budgetary resources from the highway program. The appropriations act for fiscal year 2011 included $3.1 billion in rescisions of unused highway resources provided in previous years. Transit Investments: An additional $358 million above the fiscal year 2011 enacted level for the transit “New Starts” program. This funding supports projects across the Nation that will provide new or expanded public transportation services. Airport Investments: $3.5 billion for capital investments at airports across the country.

Last night I attended the regional ED forum for Allegany County and have to say it was not as bad as the process sounded. Though we were given broad strategic areas there was plenty of time to nuance these items for our area and add housing and other community revitalization efforts ( Main Street, CDFI lending, etc)  to the mix. Each region has devised different questions based on the Regional councils discussion so this may vary between regions.

Questions arose regarding the consistency with the QUAP in the new role of the regional councils in determining projects and whether the allocation throughout the state were going to be carried through by the regions, I am not an expert here so not sure if these concerns are valid. The presenters knew nothing about housing and had no response on how this would fit into economic development. My guess is this is going to be something that the Chief elected may be consulted on regarding whether they support certain housing  proposals in their area.

For those in Hydrofracking areas there was concern on local housing  costs if a few thousand workers are imported into areas and also that local workers be used first. Rumors are that most new jobs in Marcellus Shale have gone to imported workers from out of the area. There was an overall concern from the group that Erie and Niagara counties not take all the money and that the types of projects would be quite different from our area vs. Urban areas. A specific question arose about the definition of Smart growth that it conflicts with the DHCR definition. Again not sure how valid.

 

Also wanted to add that Blair, Nancy and I met with senator Young regarding abuses of Land Contracts in her district and that she is interested in sponsoring some form of consumer protection bill at a minimum requiring filing and disclosure of terms and conditions. More on this as the session comes closer.

On September 7th, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. The bill provides substantially more funding for rural housing programs than the House and much more than the President’s budget.

“With the end of the fiscal year only three weeks away, Congress will soon pass a continuing resolution that will run through the fall. Sometime late in the calendar year both Houses of Congress will consider an omnibus appropriations bill that will reflect the House-passed and the Senate reported Ag bill.  A conference committee on the omnibus will iron out differences between the two bills.”

 

Summary and FACT_SHEET American_Jobs_Act-1 proposed by the President 9/8

The NYS Rural Advocates will hold its annual meeting at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown NY on November 9-10. You can use this Otesaga annual meeting reservation form or reserve your room on line.  Registration for the  two day annual meeting meeting will follow shortly.

Where does the new debt limit agreement leave our community based programs?  Are the people who need help the most in jeopardy? Here’s an excerpt from the National Rural Housing Coalition on “what it may mean”:

“…On August 2, the President signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011.  This legislation increases the debt limit for the government by $2.4 trillion.  However, unlike past laws that raised the debt limit in one lump sum, the Budget Control Act increases the debt limit in stages and requires that those increases be offset by measures to reduce spending or raise revenue:

• The immediate $400 billion increase in the debt limit will be followed by a second $500 billion adjustment in the debt ceiling this fall.  The law contains a convoluted procedure that almost ensures the first $900 billion is approved;
• The first $900 billion is offset by a cap on discretionary appropriations. For FY 12, domestic discretionary accounts are cut by $5 billion from the current rate and only grow by inflation in the out years.  Over a 10 year period, an expanded definition of security programs – to include Defense, State Department, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs – only grows by roughly inflation, as well.  The savings, along with $20 billion from mandatory accounts and reduced costs for interest on the debt, $917 billion, with most of the savings coming in the out years.  The FY12 total for discretionary accounts is $1.043 trillion, which is nearly $100 billion below President Obama’s February budget proposal; and
• Another $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion will be available depending on a new committee called the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that is assigned to report a major deficit reduction bill by late November.  Congress must vote on this legislation by December 23^rd.  Alternatively, if the Joint Select Committee effort fails, an automatic across the board cut – totaling $1.2-1.5 trillion – would be applied equally to Defense as well as most other domestic programs, again over a 10 year period. Continue reading →

Volume 14, Number 9                                                                               May 13, 2011 House Sets Timetable for Appropriations Action  On May 10, the House Appropriations Committee released a schedule for Committee and floor consideration and allocations for all subcommittees for Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations. The schedule: Agriculture will have subcommittee consideration on May 24, full Committee on May 31 and will be on the floor in June. The Money: Picking up where last month’s deal on the CR left off, the House Appropriations Committee proposes another $45.7 billion from domestic spending and foreign aid next year. Agriculture is down -$2.6 billion from FY 11 and -$5 billion from the budget request but those numbers mask about $1.9 billion in mostly one time savings gained from the farm bill programs on the FY 11 bill. So, there is a big reduction in the topline number for USDA. The Appropriations Committee table for FY 12 is here. What You Can Do: Rural Housing Call-In Day On Wednesday, May 17th NRHC is urging its members to call their Representative on FY 12 rural housing budget. Ask your Representative to contact the Appropriations Committee and the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee to indicate support for a freeze in appropriations for rural housing programs. This is the level enacted last month in the FY 11 Full Year Continuing Resolution (HR1473). A table on FY 11  rural housing appropriations is here. $1.1 billion in direct homeownership loans; $37 million for self help housing; $69 million in rural rental housing loans; $27 million for farm labor housing; $44 million for rental housing preservation; and $58 million in home repair loans and grants. Key Points: These programs provide tremendous benefit to smaller rural communities that have the fewest options for affordable housing. Of particular concern is Administration’s proposal to all but eliminate the section 502 direct loan and eliminate the Mutual Self Help Housing program.  These programs constitute the backbone of the rural housing programs and are principal affordable housing resource for rural America.  Section 502 loans are very cost efficient, with a  projected cost only about $5,000 per loan in FY 12. Self help housing allows family to gain equity in their own home by working nights and weekends to provide 65% of the labor necessary to build their home. Continuing these programs is essential. .  Be sure to tell your representative that while federal spending on other programs has grown, that is not the case for rural housing loans and grants.  Federal spending on rural housing loan and grant programs has dropped over recent years.  In Fiscal 2003, budget authority devoted to rural housing totaled $342 million. If Congress continues rural housing programs at the FY 11 rate, the cost to the federal government will be half the amount spent in 2003. You can reach your Representative by calling the switchboard at the Capitol: 202-224-3121. There is additional information on rural housing issues at our website ruralhousingcoalition.org.