Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2014 Budget Request Overview and Resources

December 27, 2013 R43050

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2014 Budget Request Overview and Resources

December 27, 2013 (R43050)

Introduction

This report provides a brief overview of the FY2014 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with links to relevant Administration budget documents and CRS reports. A list of CRS analysts with expertise on various aspects of the HUD budget is also provided (see "Key Policy Staff"). Note that this report will not be updated to track legislative action. For updates on the status of FY2014 HUD appropriations, see the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies page on the CRS website.

HUD

Most of the funding for HUD's programs and activities comes from discretionary appropriations provided each year in the annual appropriations acts enacted by Congress. HUD's annual appropriations are generally provided along with the Department of Transportation and several related agencies (including the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation/NeighborWorks) by the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies subcommittees in the House and the Senate.

President's FY2014 Budget

Note to Reader about FY2013

Funding figures provided in this report come from the President's FY2014 budget documents. The FY2013 funding figures presented in the President's FY2014 budget documents do not accurately represent funding levels available for HUD's programs and activities in FY2013. Specifically, the FY2013 figures in the President's budget documents generally show annualized levels from P.L. 112-175, the six-month continuing resolution that funded the government through March 27, 2013, and do not reflect the final FY2013 funding levels provided by P.L. 113-6 or the effects of the March 1, 2013, sequestration order.

P.L. 113-6 was enacted on March 26, 2013, less than three weeks before release of the President's budget. Given the late passage of final FY2013 appropriations, the application of a 0.2% across-the-board rescission required by OMB under the terms of P.L. 113-6, and some outstanding questions about how sequestration will be applied to final FY2013 appropriations, detailed program and account-level information about final FY2013 funding levels is not yet available. Thus, it is difficult to compare the President's FY2014 budget request to FY2013. Therefore, in this report the FY2014 request is shown in comparison to FY2012 enacted funding levels.

Totals

On April 10, 2013, the Obama Administration submitted its FY2014 budget request, including about $33 billion in net funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The President's net funding request is about $3 billion less than the amount provided in FY2012.

  • For more information about HUD's Budget Request, see Presentation—Overview of FY2014 President's Budget. (NOTE: Some of the FY2013 figures shown in this document provide final FY2013 funding estimates, including the effects of sequestration.)
  • For additional detail about funding levels for specific programs and activities, see HUD's FY2014 Congressional Budget Justifications. (NOTE: The FY2013 funding levels provided in these documents do not accurately present final FY2013 funding. See "Note to Reader about FY2013" text box.)

While the amount of net budget authority requested by the President for FY2014 is lower than the amount provided in FY2012, that decrease is largely attributable to increases in savings available from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance fund. FHA offsets are estimated by HUD to increase by $7 billion compared to FY2012.

As shown in Figure 1, not accounting for the savings from offsets and other sources, the President's FY2014 budget requests an increase of more than $4 billion in overall gross new appropriations for HUD programs and activities compared to the FY2012 enacted funding level.

Figure 1. Total HUD Funding, With and Without Savings from Offsets, FY2012 and FY2014 Request

Source: Chart prepared by CRS based on information in the President's FY2014 budget documents.

Rental Assistance and Homeless Assistance

Some of the largest increases in funding, relative to FY2012, would go to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (an increase of more than $1 billion), the Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance program (an increase of more than $900 million), and the Homeless Assistance Grants (an increase of almost $500 million).

Block Grants

Several programs would receive lower funding under the President's FY2014 request compared to FY2012, including the HOME Investment Partnerships program and formula grants under the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program.

Mandatory Funding for FHA

The budget request also anticipates that FHA will need mandatory funding of $943 million during FY2013 to ensure that it has enough funds in reserve to cover its expected future losses on insured mortgages. A final determination of whether FHA needs these funds will not be made until the end of FY2013, but if they are needed, it would represent the first time that FHA has needed funds from Treasury to help cover the costs of its single-family mortgage insurance program. (FHA's single-family program is intended to be self-supporting, with the fees that it charges covering its costs.) These funds would be available to FHA under existing authority and would not require further congressional action.

Legislative Proposals

The budget request contains a number of legislative proposals to change income, rent, and other policies in HUD's primary rental assistance programs. Several of these proposals have been proposed in Congress as a part of assisted housing reform legislation.

Recap of FY2013

The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 933, P.L. 113-6) was signed into law on March 26, 2013. The law provided year-long appropriations for several government agencies, and provided continuing appropriations through the rest of the fiscal year for the remaining government agencies (including HUD).

In terms of funding for HUD, the act provided about $33 billion in net budget authority, before accounting for an across-the-board rescission determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at 0.2%. In terms of gross budget authority, the pre-rescission funding level was about $46 billion (excluding emergency funding of approximately $16 billion for CDBG in the wake of Hurricane Sandy). These funding levels will be further reduced by the sequestration ordered on March 1, 2013. OMB's report indicates HUD's FY2013 funding will be reduced by about $3 billion as a result of the sequester.

Key Policy Staff

Area of Expertise

Name

Phone

E-mail

Overall HUD budget, Public and Assisted Housing, including Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and public housing; project-based Section 8 rental assistance

[author name scrubbed]

[phone number scrubbed]

[email address scrubbed]

Community development, including CDBG and capacity building

[author name scrubbed]

[phone number scrubbed]

[email address scrubbed]

Section 202 housing for persons who are elderly, Section 811 housing for persons with disabilities, homeless assistance, including HOPWA, and Fair Housing

[author name scrubbed]

[phone number scrubbed]

[email address scrubbed]

FHA, HOME, Housing Counseling, NAHASDA

[author name scrubbed]

[phone number scrubbed]

[email address scrubbed]