NAHRO Policy Team Blog

HUD will hold a two-and-a-half day conference in the Washington, DC area  to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program.  The conference is scheduled for May 2-4, 2011. 

As part of its ongoing preparations for the event, the  Department invited several industry groups to a meeting at HUD headquarters this past Friday.  NAHRO was in attendance.

During the meeting, industry groups were informed that HUD expects to launch its new HOME Technical Assistance website (www.hometa.info) later this week.  Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) can learn more about and register for the conference through the new website.

As part of the 20th anniversary conference, HUD will present "Door Knocker Awards" to PJs "for exceptional programs and projects in key areas that are important to the future of the program."  According to the Department, Door Knocker Award winners will:

• Be presented with an award at the conference, where they will have their picture taken with high-level HUD officials;
• Have the opportunity to make a presentation about their award-winning project to peers at the conference;
• Have a video produced about the award that will be played at the conference, shared with their Congressional Representatives, and posted on HUD.gov, YouTube and other media outlets;
• Be highlighted in local and national press releases and featured on HUD.gov and HOMETA.info.

Door Knocker Awards will be presented in the following categories:

• Promoting Long-term Affordability
• Reaching Underserved Populations
• Building CHDO Capacity
• Producing Sustainable Housing

Applications will be accepted through February 24. To apply, visit www.hometa.info after the site has launched.

HUD has issued a press release announcing $1.411 billion in FY 2010 competitive awards for Continuum of Care renewals.  According to the release, HUD will announce awards for new projects "later in the year."  A state-by-state breakdown of the awards made under the renewal competitive programs (Shelter Pluse Care, Single Room Occupancy, and Supportive Housing) is available through HUD's website. 

The FY 2011 funding cycle will see major changes in the way HUD provides McKinney-Vento homeless assistance grant funding.  In May 2009 President Obama signed major reform legislation into law.  The bill, known as the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH), consolidated the three competitive HUD homeless assistance grant programs into a single competitive - and, for the first time, formally authorized - Continuum of Care program. HEARTH also renamed the Emergency Shelter Grant program the Emergency Solutions Grant program and revamps the program to provide grantees with greater flexibility to prevent homelessness and provide re-housing services.

A number of NAHRO members have reached out to us in recent weeks to raise concerns regarding HUD's determination that PHAs and Redevelopment Authorities may not act as developers under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.  In response to these concerns, we authored a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan requesting that he exercise the waiver authority provided for under both the Recovery Act and the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 in order to place PHAs and Redevelopment Authorities on equal footing with for-profit and private nonprofit developers. 

NAHRO is not making this request on its own.  In a sign of the importance of this issue, six other national organizations representing local elected officials and housing and community development professionals have joined with us in this effort.  The final letter, which was sent to the Secretary on January 14, was signed by the following groups:

• NAHRO
• The National Association of Counties
• The National League of Cities
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors
• The Council of State Community Development Agencies
• The National Association for County Community and Economic Development
• The National Community Development Association

Read the letter here.