The House Appropriations Committee yesterday released the fiscal year 2017 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which would provide discretionary funding for the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Congress is expected to vote on the bill later this week, in time to avoid a government shutdown when the current continuing resolution expires on Friday.

Proposed funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is described in a summary prepared by the House committee. The legislation includes a net total of $38.8 billion for HUD, a $513 million increase above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level, and $824 million below the requested funding level. Highlights include:

• Section 8 and Public Housing – Included in the bill is $27.5 billion for Public and Indian Housing. This is an increase of $623 million above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level and $760 million below the requested level.
• Office of Housing – Other housing programs are funded at $11.5 billion – an increase of $259 million above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level. Project-Based Rental Assistance is funded at $10.8 billion; Housing for the Elderly is provided with $502 million; and Housing for Persons with Disabilities receives $146 million.
• The bill cuts HUD’s administrative payments to public housing agencies by $427 million below the previous administration’s request. It also includes a provision prohibiting HUD from guaranteeing mortgages seized by eminent domain.
• Community Planning and Development – The bill contains $6.8 billion for Community Planning and Development programs – $152 million above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level.
• Community Development Block Grants are funded at $3 billion – the same as the fiscal year 2016 level. The HOME Investment Partnerships Program is funded at $950 million – the same as the current year. Grants for homeless assistance are funded at $2.4 billion, an increase of $133 million over current level.
• Emergency Funding for Disaster Relief – In addition to regular appropriations, the legislation includes an additional $948 million in disaster relief. Of this amount, $528 million is for the Emergency Relief Program for qualifying emergency road and bridge repair expenses, and $400 million is for Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery assistance.

The full 92-page committee report is available here.

Boston Globe: Housing subsidies represent perhaps the country’s best shot at breaking intergenerational poverty

CityLab: The case for preservation instead of construction

CityLab: Most Americans are worried about losing their housing

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: How do U.S. renters fare compared to those around the world?

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: Older single women face greatest housing challenges

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: New data on incomes suggests growing demand for housing

Next City: What Texas ruling means for fair housing

Next City: Nashville affordable housing advocates score 2 victories

NLIHC: Congress debates stopgap funding to avoid government shutdown

NLIHC: U.S. ranks poorly in housing affordability among advanced countries

Rooflines: Why we need to invest greater resources into the role of residential property managers

San Francisco Chronicle (via Planetizen): Housing crisis linked to public health problems

Urban Wire: What new programs and policies should PHAs be testing?

Urban Wire: How MTW could teach us about the benefits and costs of car access

Urban Wire: How HUD and PHAs can support students

Urban Wire: To increase housing choice, try incentivizing landlords

Good news this morning from Congress, which approved a $1.1 trillion spending package averting a government shutdown.

The bill increases funding for the HOME program (previous versions effectively eliminated HOME), fully funds the renewal of all housing choice vouchers in use as well as vouchers about to be leased up by new voucher holders, and increases funding for both the public housing operating and capital funds.

CNN: Congress clears bill averting shutdown

CityLab: Residents in some public-housing units in Worcester, Massachusetts, must now get a job or go back to school

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: Unprecedented growth in the number of renter households over the past 10 years

NLIHC: Committee approves "Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act" despite opposition

NPR: There's shelter, and then there's housing: Utah claims muted victory

To all our blog readers, a very happy holiday! This is the final affordable housing news roundup of 2015, and we’ll be back in 2016 to bring you up to speed on what’s ahead in the new year.

Early this morning, Congress released the text of the omnibus spending bill, H.R. 2029. The omnibus bill funds all 12 appropriations bills for FY 2016, including Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Highlights of the bill as it stands are:

• Vouchers would be funded at $19.629 billion, $65 million of which would go to new vouchers. All new vouchers are HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers.
• The HOME program would be funded at $950 million for FY 2016, a $50 million increase in funding from 2015.
• Public housing operating and capital funds would be funded at $4.5 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.
• One hundred new Moving to Work (MTW) agencies would be authorized over seven years. Contracts of existing MTW agencies would also be renewed under their current terms until FY 2028.

Congress is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR), passed last Friday, which keeps the government funded through the end of today, December 16. For this reason, it is likely that Congress will pass another CR today to avoid shutdown until December 22. As for the omnibus funding bill, Congress is expected to pass that later this week.

CBPP: Housing bill would boost rental assistance's effectiveness

The HUDdle: How the family self-sufficiency program is changing lives

Huffington Post: House passes 5-day continuing resolution, averts shutdown

Next City: Where are lower-income renters supposed to live?

NHC: Addressing community opposition to affordable housing

NLIHC: Congress approves triennial recertifications for fixed-income households

Rooflines: Arrests alone are not a legal basis for an application denial or eviction

Urban Wire: The next step in the plan to end homelessness among veterans

Washington Post: Why it's so hard to afford a rental even if you make a decent salary

Building Design & Construction (via CSSP): New York showcases an urban farm for public housing

CBPP: How housing vouchers can help address California's rental crisis

Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies: Single-family rentals have risen to nearly a third of rental housing

Next City: New Detroit field guide released to help residents with vacant lots

NLIHC: Government shutdown averted, budget talks to begin "soon"

Urban Institute: How public servants have helped expand housing mobility

NCSHA: Government shutdown averted

NHC: Paycheck to Paycheck 2015 examines housing challenges of millennial workers

NLIHC: Pope Francis on lack of housing

NYU Furman Center: A new approach to affirmatively furthering fair housing

Urban Institute: 25 years after "Show Me a Hero": Voices from Yonkers public housing

Urban Institute: Q&A: Joseph Shuldiner on housing, community, and the future of Yonkers

Urban Institute: Using housing policy tools to build ladders to the middle class

Washington Post: A conversation between Sec. Castro and creator of "Show Me a Hero"

Architects designed a five-story structure and an overhaul of a 1926 YMCA building in Los Angeles to provide 49 affordable housing units for youths leaving foster care. (Courtesy of Eric Staudenmaier)

Last night the U.S. House of Representatives passed an omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 83) that will provide funding for HUD and several other departments of the federal government through September 30, 2015. The Senate began consideration of the bill today and is expected to approve it by tomorrow, when the current continuing resolution expires.

Late yesterday HUD posted a contingency plan to provide guidance for PHAs in the event of a lapse in appropriations. You can download it as a Word document or a PDF, but it's not likely that the plan will be needed now.

Jacobin: An inadequate estimate of the scope of homelessness

NHC: Progress in ending veterans homelessness

NLHA: Scholarship program for residents of federally assisted rental housing or HCV recipients

NLIHC: Report shows child homelessness at an all-time high

Rooflines: Vouchers are helping children avoid concentrated poverty

Rooflines: Moving from debate to productive dialogue

Washington Post: Affordable housing design doesn't have to be boring

Three of this year's top ten posts were written by NMA founder Nan McKay, who is celebrating her 50th year in housing.

Once again, as we head towards the end of the year, we look back to see which blog posts were the most read. In 2013, the big topics were sequestration and the government shutdown, as you can see from this year's top-ten list.

1. Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 NMA Housing Awards!

2. Meet the NMA team: Nan McKay

3. How to make informed reasonable accommodation determinations

4. Working with sequestration in the public housing program

5. How to be an effective hearing officer

6. Join NMA for our national housing conference in San Diego

7. Fifty years in housing

8. Government shutdown: What you need to know

9. Working with sequestration in the HCV program

And the most popular blog post of the year:

1. Achieving high performance in the HCV program

What topics would you like us to write about in 2014? Comment here with your ideas!

Previously: The top 10 blog posts of 2012

If you find that you need staffing help during sequestration, NMA can assist your agency with recertifications (done remotely), quality control, hearing officer staff, HQS inspections, and more. Email sales@nanmckay.com for further assistance.

Bipartisan Policy Center (via NLIHC): On the 27th anniversary of the LIHTC, what lessons have we learned?

Colorlines: In the government shutdown, HUD definitely suffered the hardest blow

GoSection8: A collaboration between Oracle’s Siebel team and GoSection8.com delivers maximized efficiency to the nation's largest housing authority

MetroTrends: Twelve ways government spending supports vulnerable people

New York Times: Give the National Housing Trust Fund its due

NHC: Housing's role in bringing people together

NLIHC: Short animated video reveals the solution to ending homelessness

Off the Charts: The budget agreement marks an important victory

Rooflines: New study finds that LIHTC may have exacerbated segregation

ThinkProgress: The shutdown also had a disproportionate effect on women

Washington Post: Poor children are now the majority in American public schools in South, West

Wired: How segregated is your city?