Congress Passes FY 2017 Spending Omnibus

Both the House and Senate, on May 3 and May 4, respectively, passed the FY 2017 omnibus spending package funding government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for the remainder of FY 2017, which ends September 30. The President signed the measure on May 5.

In good news for affordable housing and HFAs, the bill level funds the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program at $950 million, the same level of funding that House and Senate appropriators had agreed to last year when negotiating an FY 2017 omnibus appropriations bill that was ultimately not enacted. The new omnibus provides $10.8 billion for project-based rental assistance, a reduction from the $10.9 billion negotiators had agreed to last year, but enough to fully fund all expiring project-based assistance contracts. It also includes $18.36 billion for Section 8 voucher renewals, enough to fully fund existing vouchers, and $1.65 billion for PHA administrative fees, the same amount as provided in FY 2016. NCSHA's budget chart provides more details on spending levels of individual HUD and U.S. Department of Agriculture rural housing programs.

In addition to setting funding levels, the bill also makes several policy changes of relevance to HFAS. Specifically, it:

• Includes a provision eliminating the requirement that HOME Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) commit HOME funds within 24 months or face recapture, effective for program funds that would otherwise expire between 2016 and 2019;
• Increases the number of public housing units eligible to convert to project-based section 8 under the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program from 185,000 to 225,000 and extends RAD authorization to 2020; and
• Specifies that none of the funding made available under the bill may be used to direct a HUD grantee to undertake specific changes to existing zoning laws as part of carrying out the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing final rule.

President Proposes FY 2018 Budget

On May 23rd the President proposed his FY 2018 Budget and has labeled it a “Taxpayer First” budget and the White House Budget Director, Mick Mulvaney told reporters this is, “the first time in a long time that an administration has written a budget through the eyes of the people who are actually paying taxes.” Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would receive $40.7 billion while having been allocated $46.9 billion in FY 2017.

Here is a link to the President’s budget proposal:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/budget.pdf

Key Legislative Initiatives for ADOH

On March 31st Governor Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1196 (Arizona department of housing; continuation) which officially extends the Department’s statutory life through 2025. The success of this legislative initiative is, in large part, due to the hard work and dedication of our sponsor, Senator Kate Brophy McGee. We owe the Senator, legislative members & staff, our gratitude for all of their efforts in accomplishing this vital task that will allow the Arizona Department of Housing to continue its mission. That mission is to lead and collaborate with our community partners, to create, preserve and invest in affordable housing. The Department is also indebted to ADOH employees, comprised of a diverse group of professionals, who have chosen to serve Arizona and their fellow citizens who are pursuing an enriched life. The community came out, officially expressing their support of the Department and our Director; we cannot thank them enough. Director Trailor represented the agency extremely well during three legislative committee hearings.

Here are links to his presentations in the Committee of Reference, Senate Commerce and Public Safety Committee and the House Commerce Committee. Check these out if you are interested in learning more about the Department and the accomplishments that were chosen to highlight.

In addition to SB 1196, the Department also worked with Senator Brophy McGee on another legislative change to conform newly adopted statutes that moved the Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety’s, Office of Manufactured Housing to Housing in 2016. This bill went through several iterations since it’s inception in order to ensure all stakeholder concerns are resolved. While the majority of the changes are technical, there are two major provisions that will allow the Department to better serve our customers. Currently fees collected are deposited into the State General Fund and then once per year are allocated back to the agency. This might not have mattered if the Department received an amount equal to the fees deposited, which, unfortunately, was not the case. Fortunately, the Governor included this change in his budget proposal. The Department worked hard to ensure the passage of SB 1218 before Sine Die (end of session). Here is a link to SB 1218 if you would like to learn about the bill and see its progress. The effective date of the changes in SB 1218 is August 9. Thank you, to all those who took action in support of SB 1218!