In a rare unanimous vote, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), which would make various reforms to rental housing assistance programs, including streamlining Housing Choice Voucher program inspections, simplifying...
HUD recently unveiled President Obama’s proposed HUD Budget for Fiscal Year 2017. HUD’s 2017 Budget includes $48.9 billion in gross discretionary funding and $11.3 billion in new mandatory spending over 10 years, with an emphasis on supporting 4.5 million households through rental...
Last summer HUD released a final rule implementing the Fair Housing Act of 1968’s obligation for jurisdictions receiving federal funds for housing and urban development to “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH). The rule set in motion a data-driven effort to bolster...
On Dec. 18, President Obama signed the FY 2016 omnibus spending bill into law. The bill covered all 12 appropriations bills, including funding for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD). The Senate adopted the bill by a vote of 65-33; the House did so by a 316...
On Dec. 18, 2015, HUD and the USDA announced that communities may now apply to be designated a Promise Zone under the third and final round of competition. Promise Zones are high-poverty communities where the federal government partners with local leaders to increase economic activity, improve...
The Fair Housing Act prohibits harassment in housing and housing-related transactions because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status. Yet for many women, their landlords are a source of fear and harassment, demanding sexual favors in lieu of or along with...
As part of President Obama’s efforts to promote rehabilitation and reintegration for the formerly incarcerated, HUD and the Department of Justice recently announced $1.7 million for public housing authorities to aid eligible public housing residents who are under the age of 24 to expunge...
On Oct. 30, Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. President Obama signed the bill into law a day before the government would have been in default without the agreements. The legislation provides a two-year framework to relieve federal programs from the bulk of sequester spending...
On Oct. 22, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled, “The Future of Housing in America: 50 Years of HUD and its Impact on Federal Housing Policy,” to review the effectiveness of HUD programs since the Department was established half a century ago.
HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing recently issued Notice PIH-2015-17, which provides guidance to public housing agencies (PHAs) on the use and reporting of administrative fee reserves for the Housing Choice Voucher program. The new notice responds to Office of the Inspector General...
HUD launched a new ethics program that will support whistleblower, ombudsman, and hotline initiatives. Part of HUD’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the Integrity & Compliance Program (ICP) aims to create a “principled organizational culture,” Inspector General David...
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently released an updated version of its paper, Research Shows Housing Vouchers Reduce Hardship and Provide Platform for Long-Term Gains Among Children. According to the paper, vouchers and other rental assistance lifted 2.8 million people...
