NAHRO Policy Team Blog

HUD has responded to another Washington Post article criticizing the HOME Investment Partnership program. Click here to read HUD’s response.

In related news, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan recently announced new proposed regulations intended to strengthen oversight in the HOME program. According to a HUD news release, the new regulations would:

•Require state and local governments to adopt policies and procedures to improve their oversight of projects, develop a system for assessing the relative risk of projects, and more closely monitor their HOME-funded sub-recipients;

•Require state and local governments to assess a developer’s capacity and the long-term viability of the project, before they commit HOME funds to a project;

•Require more frequent reporting by state and local ‘participating jurisdictions’ to enable HUD to more closely track projects once they’re under way; and

•Set a higher ‘performance bar’ by establishing specific timeframes for taking appropriate corrective actions against participating jurisdictions who fail to complete what they started.

The latest edition of the MONITOR is available for NAHRO members online. Be sure to read NAHRO’s Survey and Analysis: State-by-State Effects of 62 and 83 Percent Pro-rations in HCV Administrative Fees on Vouchers Households Leased; HUD Begins Implementing Offset; and, Proposed Rule: Provision to the Section 8 Management Assessment Program Lease-Up Indicator.

Recently, NAHRO members discovered errors in a pre-populated data provided in HUD-52723. To learn more about the cause of the errors and what PHA’s can do to correct them, read NAHRO’s  Direct News.

In other news, more and more PHAs are maintaining their carbon footprint by becoming green. In Indianapolis, a new sustainable affordable housing development just opened called 16 Park. Formerly known as Caravelle Commons, the revitalized development includes one of the largest plant-covered green roofs in the city and rain gardens to minimize storm water runoff.

On September 20, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee held its markup of the Transportation-HUD bill. The subcommittee released a summary of its bill to the public the same day. The subcommittee unanimously passed its bill and sent it to the Full Senate Appropriation Committee the next day for markup. For a detailed description of the Full Senate Appropriation Committee’s markup of FY 2012 THUD bill, read NAHRO’s latest Direct News. 

HUD announced today that nearly $110 million in grants has been made available to public housing agencies across the country for the purpose of providing education and job training for residents receiving HUD rental assistance. The grants are available through three programs—Public and Indian Housing Family Self-Sufficiency Program, Housing Choice Voucher Self-Sufficiency Program and Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency-Service Coordinator.

In other news, voting for NAHRO’s President and Senior Vice President begins this Wednesday, September 28. Voting closes on October 17. Be on the lookout for an email from NAHRO with the link to the online voting site.

On the evening of Thursday, September 8, the House Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY 2012 Transportation-HUD spending bill. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to mark up its version of the FY 2012 THUD at some point this week. 

The House bill limits the compensation of PHA employees; cuts funding for the Public Housing Operating Fund, Public Housing Capital Fund, and HOME; and provides no funding for Hope VI or Choice Neighborhood programs.  The bill provides a 5 percent increase in CDBG funding compared to FY 2011; however, bill language reduces the CDBG administration and planning cap from 20 to 10 percent.

The THUD bill is not expected to come up in front of the Full House Committee for some time. In the meantime, proposals for amendments have been offered by both Democrats and Republicans—an unusual development in subcommittee markup proceedings.

Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) offered an amendment requiring HUD to submit an operating reserve offset plan for approval by House and Senate Appropriations Committee within 30 days of the THUD’s bill passage.  

To view the draft of the subcommittee bill, click here.

NAHRO will continue to provide you with the latest information regarding the progress of the FY 2012 markup process.