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HUD's Monthly Attacks on Affordable Housing 2006 not only marked the beginning of a new year, but it also marked another year of attacks on affordable housing by the Bush Administration. Below is a compendium of impacts, month after month, that the Bush Administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development is proposing on America's affordable housing. Democrats do not want to see affordable housing listed on the Endangered Species List, and to that end, are working to reverse the damage the administration proposes on America's communities. August 2006- The one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina passes, reflecting a Bush Administration housing response that has included gross mismanagement by FEMA, Bush Administration opposition to adequate funding for housing reconstruction, efforts to kick 50,000 families out of motels on two weeks notice in November, billions of dollars spent on trailers that went unused, a refusal to comply with Congressional directives to issue clear eligibility criteria for ongoing rental housing assistance for displaced families, and indifference, if not hostility, to the rebuilding of public housing in New Orleans. July 2006- HUD publishes a proposed rule to raise fees by 71% on FHA loans made for affordable rental housing and for health care facilities. The massive fee hike is proposed in spite of the fact that these programs already make a profit for the taxpayers. Subsequently, 120 House members send a joint letter asking HUD Secretary Jackson to withdraw the fee increase. June 2006- HUD acknowledges that 2006 public housing operating funding will only cover 85% of estimated costs, instead of 92% as it had previously estimated, due to increased utility costs that housing agencies had been warning about since last year, but that HUD repeatedly ignored. This comes a few months after the Bush Administration offered its FY 2007 budget, estimated to fund only 78% of operating costs - and which could fall even lower after more accurate utility costs are factored in. May 2006- The HUD Inspector General announces that it is looking into remarks made by HUD Secretary Alfonso Jackson on April 28th. Sec. Jackson reportedly said that he had selected a contractor that made "a heck of a proposal" but after the contractor told Sec. Jackson he did not like President Bush, Jackson reportedly said "He didn't get the contract. . . Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president. Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe." In fact, federal law states that federal contracts should be based on merit, not on whether a contractor likes or dislikes the president. April 2006- The Bush Administration opposes a number of provisions in the Senate Hurricane Katrina emergency supplemental spending bill to increase funding for housing in general and rental housing in particular. An official Statement of Administration Policy noted that the Senate bill boosted CDBG funding by $1 billion over the Administration request, expressed concern about an additional $1.2 billion housing pilot program, and opposed requiring that at least $1 billion of the CDBG funds go for rental housing. March 2006- HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson testifies before the House Transportation, Treasury, HUD, and D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee, defending the FY 2007 HUD budget. Secretary Jackson characterizes the Section 8 voucher program as a "cancer. . . that is eating up our budget, " and claims that "20, 25, 30% of the people on Section 8 really don't need to be on Section 8," and later that "many of the people on the program don't deserve to be on the program." Sec. Jackson also defends the $736 million [20%] cut to CDBG block grants, by claiming that funding should not go to wealthier communities in order to provide affordable housing and economic opportunities for low and moderate income families in those communities. February 2006- The Bush Administration releases its FY 2007 budget, which cuts core HUD programs by a total of $1.6 billion, including the following proposals to:
January 2006- HUD issues a notice to public housing agencies announcing the Section 8 housing voucher allocation for FY 2006. HUD acknowledges that funding is provided for less than 95% of full voucher renewal needs. This funding shortfall is a direct result of funding formula changes first proposed by the Bush Administration in April 2004 and of voucher funding requests made by the Bush Administration. An estimated 100,000 fewer families are being assisted by housing vouchers now than in April, 2004. December 2005- The Bush Administration endorses a proposal (originally from its own FY 2006 budget request) in the Reconciliation Act that eliminates $250 million in funding for grants to rehabilitate FHA-foreclosed rental housing units designed for low income families. The proposal is enacted into law. This program elimination comes at a time when the Bush Administration claims it is working to identify vacant federally owned and foreclosed properties for rental by families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. November 2005- Congress considers the Bush Administration request for supplemental funding for rebuilding in response to Hurricane Katrina. The Administration request of $1.5 billion for housing under CDBG and $70 million under HOME is woefully inadequate to meet housing repair needs. In contrast, Congress subsequently approves $11.5 billion for CDBG. The Administration request also proposes to partially offset Katrina spending by rescinding $100 million in existing Section 811 disabled housing construction funds and $24 million in HUD Brownfields redevelopment grant funds. Fortunately, Congress rejected these proposed rescissions. In mid November, FEMA tries to evict on just two weeks notice some 50,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina living in motels and hotels - but is forced to extend this deadline by court action. FEMA also terminates funding for long-term leases FEMA itself encouraged communities to sign to assist displaced families just after Katrina hit. FEMA and HUD continue to mismanage the process of making manufactured homes and travel trailers available to homeowners and renters displaced by Hurricane Katrina. October2005- HUD finalizes a rule dealing with the use of Section 8 housing vouchers in affordable rental housing developments. The rule reduces voucher rent subsidies on projects that are built with housing tax credits, thus jeopardizing the ability of affordable housing developers to create mixed income affordable housing. This adverse change is inconsistent with legislative intent, was not included in the proposed rule, and should not have been finalized without being subject to notice and public rulemaking. September 2005- President Bush addresses the nation from New Orleans, announcing the Administration's key housing response to Katrina, an "Urban Homestead" initiative. The plan is little more than a lottery for a few thousand lucky families, and is subsequently ignored by Congress. HUD and FEMA wait almost a month after Katrina hits before announcing details of a plan for rental housing assistance for families displaced by Katrina. As part of the plan, HUD cuts the maximum rental subsidy for displaced HUD voucher holders who are disabled persons or have other supportive housing needs. August 2005- Hurricane Katrina hits on August 29th. HUD's first action in response to Katrina is to pressure housing agencies to divert their existing housing vouchers to evacuees (even though FEMA should have been assisting these families), and later ignores Congressional pleas to seek reimbursements from FEMA in order to free up such vouchers for local use. This starts a pattern in which HUD (the agency with housing expertise) defers to FEMA on housing policy for Katrina, with disastrous consequences. July 2005- As the House and Senate consider HUD appropriations funding for FY 2006, the Bush Administration weighs in with a Statement of Administration Policy that criticizes the House appropriations bill for not cutting funding for AIDS Housing (HOPWA), Native American Housing, and Public Housing Capital repairs as much as the Bush Administration had recommended in their FY 2006 budget request. June 2005- HUD kicks off a PR campaign touting National Homeownership Month. Yet, the campaign takes place at the same time that (a) the Census Bureau releases data showing that the Minority Homeownership Gap between Whites and African-Americans and Latinos continues to widen, (b) the Bush Administration continues to lobby Congress for changes to CDBG that would prohibit CDBG funds from being used for first-time home ownership down payment grants, and (c) the Bush Administration opposes a provision in a GSE reform bill passed by a House committee that would provide billions of dollars in affordable housing, including assistance for first-time homeownership. May 2005- At the request of the Bush Administration, bills are introduced in the House and Senate to incorporate radical changes sought by the Bush Administration to the Section 8 voucher program. The proposed changes would eliminate the targeting of scarce resources to those families, seniors, and disabled persons most in need, eviscerate existing rent subsidy rules that ensure that housing is affordable, permit other jurisdictions to refuse to accept voucher holders into their communities, and cut off special vouchers that protect families from being kicked out of their apartment when landlords leave the Section 8 program. The changes sought by the Bush Administration are designed to block grant the voucher program, to pave the way for deep funding cuts. April 2005- HUD issues a proposed Public Housing Operating Fund rule that defies previous Congressional directives and reneges on its legal commitment to issue a rule based on a Negotiated Rulemaking process previously approved by all stakeholders (including public housing residents and agencies). The revised rule would cut public housing cost reimbursements by $500 million below what was previously agreed to, cutting funding to some 2,000 local communities. March 2005- In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on the FY 2006 HUD budget, HUD Secretary Jackson defends the billions of dollars in cuts to core HUD programs on the grounds that the Administration had to choose between such cuts and cutting the Section 8 voucher program. Sec. Jackson also acknowledges that legislation to implement the Administration's plan to eliminate CDBG and substitute for it a new program in the Commerce Department is months away from being sent to Congress. February 2005- The Bush Administration releases its FY 2006 budget, which proposes to cut the HUD budget by $3.85 billion, the largest percentage cut of any cabinet department. In addition to the CDBG cut cited above, the budget would:
January 2005- The Bush Administration releases information on its FY 2006 budget proposal to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant [CDBG] program (and eliminate 17 other community development programs). The plan would roll all these eliminated programs into a new program in the Commerce Department, cutting funding overall by 37%. This would reduce affordable housing expenditures by $1 billion, and reorient the program away from the goal of community development to one of business promotion. Click here to see HUD assaults on low-income housing from previous years. |
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