July 6, 2010 - The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) approved its FY11 appropriations bill on July 1. It proposes $46.579 billion in discretionary funds for HUD, over $1 billion more than the President’s request.

Subcommittee chairman Rep. John Olver (D-MA) said the package reflects the subcommittee’s interest in strengthening HUD’s existing programs before embarking on new initiatives.

The highlights:
• No funding for HUD’s proposed Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance (PETRA) initiative to combine 13 rental assistance programs into one streamlined program aimed at preserving existing affordable housing.
• No funds for HUD’s proposed Choice Neighborhoods Initiative to rehab distressed public housing while improving surrounding neighborhoods, or for the companion Catalytic Investments Competition Grants.
• $200 million for HOPE VI, which HUD has proposed replacing with Choice Neighborhoods (above).
• Funding to renew existing rental assistance vouchers. But the National Low Income Housing Coalition and others are pushing for 250,000 additional vouchers for FY11, and a doubling of the program by 2020.
• Vouchers for people with special needs: those experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, and veterans - including $75 million for Veterans Affairs Supported Housing (VASH) program vouchers.
• $85 million for a new Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration program requested by HUD, which would fund public housing authorities to house families and individuals who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.
• Homeless Assistance Grants funded at the HUD-requested $2.06 billion, a significant increase over FY10. But there is a significant push underway to bump it to the $2.4 billion allowed by the newly reauthorized HEARTH Act. The Interagency Council on Homelessness’s (ICH) new plan to end homelessness, Opening Doors, would require significant housing and service resources from HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants and from other mainstream housing programs such as tenant-based rental assistance.
• $4.8 billion in public housing operating funds, less than the $5.08 billion NLIHC believes is needed to cover FY11 expenses.  But public housing capital funds would increase to $2.5 billion, from the President’s $2.04 billion.

Item-by-item spending levels and comparison to past years is available here.

More detail on the subcommittee’s package is here.