HUD Press Release

 

Good-To-Know ///

HUD NEWS                              

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Marcia L. Fudge, Secretary

Office of Public Affairs, Washington, DC 20410                     

 

HUD No. 21-057                                                                                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HUD Public Affairs                                                                           April 9, 2021

202-708-0685                                                                                    

HUD.gov/Press

 

Statement by HUD Secretary Fudge on the President’s FY22 Discretionary Funding Request

Request expands Housing Choice Vouchers, boosts investments to end homelessness, improves energy efficiency and resiliency in HUD-assisted housing, increases the supply of affordable housing, and much more

 

 

WASHINGTON—The Biden-Harris Administration today submitted to Congress the President’s priorities for fiscal year 2022 discretionary spending. The funding request invests in the core foundations of our country’s strength and advances key Department of Housing and Urban Development priorities, including: 

> a significant expansion of rental assistance to low-income households;

> funding for strategies to end homelessness;

> investments to address the critical shortage of affordable housing;

> improvement of the quality of affordable housing through investments in resiliency and energy efficiency; and

> strategic investments across multiple programs to strengthen communities facing underinvestment and to prevent and redress housing-related discrimination.

“Addressing our nation’s urgent housing challenges and building a more affordable, equitable, and resilient housing system demands strong federal leadership backed by robust federal funding,” said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “President Biden’s FY22 discretionary funding request turns the page on years of inadequate and harmful spending requests and instead empowers HUD to meet the housing needs of families and communities across the country. I am particularly pleased that the request proposes more than $30 billion to expand housing vouchers to an additional 200,000 low-income families. I look forward to working with the President to advance HUD’s critical priorities.”

The President’s FY22 discretionary request provides a total of $68.7 billion for HUD, an increase of $9 billion over the 2021 enacted level. The request:

 

• Expands Housing Choice Vouchers to 200,000 Additional Families. The Housing Choice Voucher program currently provides 2.3 million low-income families with rental assistance to obtain housing in the private market. The discretionary funding request proposes $30.4 billion, a substantial increase of $5.4 billion over the 2021 enacted level, to maintain services for all currently assisted families and expand assistance to an additional 200,000 households, particularly for those who are homeless or fleeing domestic violence. This funding also includes mobility-related supportive services to provide low-income families who live in racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty with greater options to move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods. 

 

• Makes Significant Investments to End Homelessness. To prevent and reduce homelessness, the 2022 discretionary funding request provides $3.5 billion, an increase of $500 million over 2021 enacted levels, for Homeless Assistance Grants to support more than 100,000 additional households, including survivors of domestic violence and homeless youth.  These resources would complement the $5 billion for emergency housing vouchers provided in the American Rescue Plan, which will also assist those who are homeless and at-risk of homelessness.

 

• Modernizes and Improves Energy Efficiency, Resilience, and Safety in HUD-Assisted Housing. HUD-supported rental properties collectively provide 2.3 million affordable homes to low-income families.  The funding request not only fully funds the operating costs across this portfolio, but also provides $800 million in new investments across HUD programs for modernization and rehabilitation aimed at energy efficiency and resilience to climate change impacts like increasingly frequent and severe wildfires and floods. These retrofits would help lower the costs and improve the quality of public and HUD-assisted housing while creating good-paying jobs. In addition, the discretionary request includes $3.2 billion for Public Housing modernization grants, an increase of $435 million above the 2021 enacted level.  

 

• Increases the Supply of Affordable Housing. To address the critical shortage of affordable housing in communities throughout the Nation, the funding request provides a $500 million increase to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, for a total of $1.9 billion, to construct and rehabilitate affordable rental housing, and to support other housing-related needs. This is the highest funding level for HOME since 2009. In addition, the proposal provides $180 million to support 2,000 units of new permanently affordable housing for the elderly and persons with disabilities, supporting the Administration’s priority to maximize independent living for people with disabilities. 

 

These discretionary investments reflect only one element of the President’s broader agenda. 

In the coming months, the Administration will release the President’s Budget, which will present a unified, comprehensive plan to address the overlapping crises we face in a fiscally and economically responsible way.

 

A fact sheet on the President’s FY22 discretionary funding request for HUD is available here.

For more information on the President’s FY22 discretionary funding request, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/FY-2022-Discretionary-Request/.