The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report that examines fragmentation and overlap of rental assistance programs on the federal, state, and local levels. The GAO partnered with 25 state and local audit offices to design an audit plan that six participating audit offices...
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released data that show no significant change in the official poverty rate or real median household income between 2013 and 2014. The data used by the Census Bureau in this report are from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
In commemoration of HUD’s 50th anniversary, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) recently issued a call for ideas to reform HUD and modernize the delivery of federal housing assistance. According to Hensarling, HUD hasn’t met the expectations set for the agency by...
Recently, Enterprise Community Partners and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) released a white paper entitled “Projecting Trends in Severely Cost-Burdened Renters: 2015-2025.” Rent is considered “affordable” if it totals 30 percent or less of one’s...
On Sept. 8, Congress returned from recess and lawmakers scheduled 12 legislative days before the start of the 2016 fiscal year on Oct. 1. In that time, Congress must come to a broad new agreement that lifts legally imposed spending caps or, more likely, pass a short-term measure, known as a...
In June, the House of Representatives voted to pass its FY 2016 spending bills for the Department of Justice (Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill) and HUD (Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Funding Bill). Both bills contain several amendments that would limit...
A recent study from the Urban Institute examined the relationships between housing subsidies, the mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions, and income inequality. It used data from the 2013 Current Population Survey (CPS), which the federal government uses for its official measures of...
Recently, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the “Equality Act,” S. 1858, and Representative David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced its companion bill, H.R. 3185. It’s the first comprehensive and inclusive piece of federal...
HUD recently announced that it’s issuing a proposed rule that would amend its existing regulations regarding the equal participation of faith-based (religious) organizations in HUD programs. The amendments are being undertaken to implement Executive Order (EO) 13559, Fundamental Principles...
HUD recently released a study concluding that housing vouchers are the most effective method for reducing homelessness. In HUD’s Family Options Study: Short-Term Impacts of Housing and Services Interventions for Homeless Families, the agency looked at 2,282 homeless families in emergency...
On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that claims of racial discrimination in housing cases shouldn’t be limited by questions of intent. The court affirmed a Court of Appeals decision in a case in which a nonprofit group sued the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for...
The Obama administration recently announced a new initiative to increase access to solar energy for all Americans, in particular low- and moderate-income communities. Last year, the United States brought online as much solar energy every three weeks as it did in all of 2008. And since the...
