HUD has approved 41 national Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Allocation Plans as of March 3. Of the 41, HUD has publicly identified 25: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The HUD Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) publicly identifies the states that have approved HTF Allocation Plans only after the state’s congressional delegation is notified and the state has obligated its HTF allocation by entering the required information into CPD’s management information system, the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS).
The HTF statute requires each state to prepare an annual Allocation Plan showing how it will distribute the funds based on priority housing needs. The interim rule amended the Consolidated Plan (ConPlan) regulations by adding HTF-specific Allocation Plan requirements to the ConPlan’s long-term Strategic Plan and Annual Plan rules. A state’s Allocation Plan must describe the requirements to be met by entities applying for HTF funds and the criteria the state will use to select applications.
Allocation Plans must give funding priority to applications based on a number of features listed in the statute, including:
- The extent to which rents are affordable, especially for extremely low income households.
- The length of time rents will remain affordable.
- The project’s merit. The interim rule gives as examples of merit: housing that serves people with special needs, housing accessible to transit or employment centers, and housing that includes green building and sustainable development elements.
- Geographic diversity. Neither the statute nor the interim rule explicitly mention rural areas.
NLIHC adds HUD-approved HTF Allocation Plans to its HTF Implementation webpage, http://nlihc.org/issues/nhtf/state-allocation-plans, as they are approved and as states make them available.
More information about the HTF is at: http://nlihc.org/issues/nhtf and on page 3-1 of NLIHC’s 2016 Advocates’ Guide at: http://bit.ly/2kwFuFM