Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2016 Budget Request Overview and Resources

February 2, 2015 R43896

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) FY2016 Budget Request.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2016 Budget Request Overview and Resources

February 2, 2015 (R43896)

Introduction

This report provides a brief overview of the FY2016 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 information on HUD appropriations, including FY2015 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 (DOT) and several related agencies (including the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, also known as NeighborWorks America) by the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies subcommittees in the House and the Senate.

President's FY2016 Budget

Totals

On February 2, 2015, the Obama Administration submitted its FY2016 budget request. It included $49.3 billion in gross discretionary appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, not accounting for savings from offsets and other sources. That amount is about $4 billion (9%) more than was provided in FY2015 (see Figure 1).

When looking at net discretionary budget authority—accounting for the effect of offsets, rescissions, and other savings—the President's budget is requesting an even greater increase relative to FY2015. As shown in Figure 1, when accounting for the savings from offsets and other sources, the President's FY2016 budget request includes $41.0 billion in net discretionary funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, an increase of more than $6 billion (18%) compared to the net budget authority provided in FY2015.

The difference in net and gross figures is largely attributable to a reduction in savings available from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance fund. FHA offsets are estimated by HUD to decrease in FY2016 by $2.4 billion compared to FY2015.

Figure 1. Total HUD Discretionary Funding, With and Without Savings from Offsets, FY2015 Enacted and FY2016 Request

Source: Chart prepared by CRS based on information in the President's FY2016 budget documents. Note that estimates from the President's budget may differ from congressional estimates (which are used in CRS appropriations reports) due to differences in estimates of various offsets between the Administration and the Congressional Budget Office.

Rental Assistance: Section 8, Public Housing, and Homeless Assistance

The largest dollar amount increases relative to FY2015 proposed in the President's FY2016 budget would go to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (an increase of $1.8 billion) and the Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance program (an increase of $1 billion). The request for a funding increase for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is partly attributable to rising costs in the program and partly attributable to several proposals to create an estimated 67,000 new vouchers to serve additional families. The funding increase requested for the project-based Section 8 program is intended to maintain current services.

The President's FY2016 budget requests smaller increases for the two primary accounts that fund the Public Housing program (5% for the Capital Fund and 3% for the Operating Fund), and a large increase for the Choice Neighborhoods program (68%), which offers competitive grants to redevelop distressed assisted housing properties, including public housing.

The budget also requests a funding increase in FY2016 over the prior year for the Homeless Assistance Grants (nearly $350 million, or 14%). The additional funding is tied to the Administration's goals of ending chronic and family homelessness.

Block Grants

The President's FY2016 budget request includes a funding decrease for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) formula block grant program (about $200 million, or 7%), and an increase for the HOME Investment Partnerships program (about $160 million, or 15%) relative to FY2015. The budget also requests a number of policy changes for both programs, including changes designed to reduce the number of communities that qualify for grants.

Legislative Proposals

The budget request contains a number of legislative proposals that would make changes to several HUD programs and activities, including rental assistance programs (Section 8 and public housing), homeless assistance, the block grant programs (HOME and CDBG), and FHA.

For example, the proposals include, among others, an expansion of the Moving to Work Demonstration; an elimination of the cap on the number of properties that can participate in the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD); enhanced fungibility between the public housing Operating Fund and Capital Fund; authorization for triennial income recertification for certain families with fixed incomes who are receiving rental assistance; energy conservation pilot programs for assisted housing properties; various changes to the CDBG program, including grantee eligibility and oversight; and authorization for FHA to charge lenders a fee for administrative support.

Key Policy Staff

Area of Expertise

Name

Phone

E-mail

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, HOPWA, and Fair Housing

[author name scrubbed]

[phone number scrubbed]

[email address scrubbed]

FHA, HOME, housing counseling, Native American housing programs

[author name scrubbed]

[phone number scrubbed]

[email address scrubbed]

Author Contact Information

[author name scrubbed], Coordinator, Specialist in Housing Policy ([email address scrubbed], [phone number scrubbed])
[author name scrubbed], Specialist in Housing Policy ([email address scrubbed], [phone number scrubbed])
[author name scrubbed], Analyst in Housing Policy ([email address scrubbed], [phone number scrubbed])
[author name scrubbed], Analyst in Federalism and Economic Development Policy ([email address scrubbed], [phone number scrubbed])