Community development and housing news for June 6, 2019

House Appropriations Committee approves 2020 HUD funding bill, Congress passes disaster relief package including $900 million for Puerto Rico, HUD announces new PIH inspection protocol, and other stories we're following this week.

Breaking news

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday advanced a $137.1 billion spending bill covering transportation and housing, about $6 billion above current levels.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development would receive most of the increase, bringing its funding to $50.1 billion. The bill would also block a public housing rule on undocumented immigrants from the administration that Democrats say would “threaten the housing tenure of 55,000 children who are citizens or legal residents.” Read more

Community development and housing news for May 30, 2019

Disaster relief package proceeds to the House for a final vote, THUD appropriations bill continues to move forward, and other stories we're following this week.

Breaking news

Last week the Senate passed a long-delayed disaster relief package that includes $900 million for Puerto Rico.

The vote represents a step toward ending a impasse that had prevented the release of billions of dollars in aid for farmers and communities struggling to recover from an onslaught of natural disasters over the last two years. House leaders hope to pass the emergency spending bill when the full chamber returns from a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Read more

HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) has issued Notice PIH 2018-05 to provide guidance on funding for the housing choice voucher (HCV) program for calendar year 2018. The notice discusses eligibility for potential shortfall funding as well as calculation of administrative fees.

This morning the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) posted a contingency plan to provide guidance for PHAs in the event of a lapse in appropriations. The 86-page PDF document outlines general guidance and legal decisions, guidance for program operations by HUD office, legal issues, internal and external communications plans, critical information technology and systems infrastructure, contract support, and other topics. The document also contains three appendices, one that includes drafted templates for internal communications, one with FAQs for external stakeholders, and one listing excepted employees by office and exception or exemption. For specific program operations guidance for HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), see page 8 of the document.

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.