The House Financial Services Committee met in an open session on February 28 to approve the committee’s budget “views and estimates” for FY18, including those for HUD. The Committee stressed the importance of modernizing HUD and consolidating “overlapping and duplicative programs” in order to “allow for assistance to be targeted to individuals with the most acute need.”
The committee also voted to express their view against expanding the Housing Choice Voucher program: “The Committee believes that the public is better served not by expanding Section 8 but by reforming the program to target need so that public housing authorities can serve more people within existing funding levels.”
Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced an amendment supporting full funding for HUD’s McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program. Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Al Green (D-TX) introduced an amendment encouraging the committee to review spending for the HOME Investment Partnership Program and the Community Development Block Grant program, with the intention of reestablishing former spending levels. In total, ten amendments were introduced. None was approved.
The FY18 budget views and estimates were approved by a vote of 33 ayes and 25 nays.
A copy of the views and estimates is at: http://bit.ly/2mlQs5K