The House Budget Committee held a hearing on June 23 to discuss the president’s fiscal year 2022 (FY22) budget request for HUD. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge served as the hearing’s sole witness. In her opening testimony, Secretary Fudge stated the budget “makes historic investments that will help our nation build back better and lay the foundation for shared growth and prosperity for decades to come. Our request greatly expands assistance to low-income families currently served by HUD programs, increases assistance to targeted vulnerable populations—including persons experiencing homelessness and Native Americans—and revitalizes neighborhoods with distressed HUD-assisted housing and concentrated poverty.”
Secretary Fudge outlined her priorities for HUD, including increasing the production of and access to affordable housing; strengthening and broadening the federal housing safety net; advancing housing equity; and promoting environmental justice. The president’s FY22 budget requests $68.7 billion for HUD, a 15% increase over FY21 appropriated levels.
Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) noted in his opening statement that “ensuring that every American has access to decent housing – to homes that are stable, secure, sanitary, and safe – should be a national priority,” and stated that, while the American Rescue Plan provided critical support to families throughout the pandemic, “ending the pandemic will not end our nation’s housing crisis.”
Representative Judy Chu (D-CA) asked for additional ways to meet the $45 billion requested by some members of congress for national Housing Trust Fund (HTF), which is currently funded through a small fee levied on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that has contributed $371 million to the HTF since 2016. Secretary Fudge stated that HUD is still determining effective and efficient ways to raise revenue for the HTF.
View the full hearing at: https://tinyurl.com/p8mr4d98
Read Secretary Fudge’s opening statement at: https://tinyurl.com/vkvjjerw
See NLIHC’s analysis of President Biden’s FY22 budget request at: https://tinyurl.com/na7dv97m