Housing Programs Would Get 18% Increase in Obama Budget
By Brennen Jensen
Contributor
May 7, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Department of Housing and Urban Development would receive $7.4-billion in new federal spending in the 2010 budget the Obama administration released today. The department would receive nearly $48-billion next year, an increase of more than 18 percent.
The Community Block Grants program would receive $550-million in new money, for a total of $4.5- billion, while programs to help the homeless would receive nearly $1.8-billion, an increase of $117-million.
New programs to combat mortgage fraud and lending discrimination would receive $37-million. Spending on housing counseling programs would increase by $35-million.
The president would allocate $1-billion to the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, money local government and nonprofit groups could use to help construct, rehabilitate, and preserve low-cost housing units.
The fund was authorized by Congress last year and initially designed to be paid for through small assessments on the financial activities of the government-sponsored mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That method for paying for the fund is on hold given the two organization’s financial difficulties.
Mr. Obama also sought $250-million for the New Choice Neighborhood Initiative to combat concentrated urban poverty. The initiative essentially updates the HOPE IV program (which received no money this year) that demolished public housing developments to create mixed-income communities. The new Choice Neighborhood program can also pay for the renovation or replacement of private housing units.
Nonprofit housing advocates praised much of the budget plan.
“We are quite pleased that the president has included the initial capitalization for the housing trust fund in the budget, though we would like the money to come from a dedicated source of revenue other than HUD appropriations,” says Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in Washington. “There are important increases in some other programs and we think overall it’s a very good direction.”
