HUD has approved 38 national Housing Trust Fund (HTF) Allocation Plans as of February 17. Of the 38, HUD has publicly identified 21: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, 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 a state’s congressional delegation is notified and a 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 that must 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.
Copies of the HUD-approved HTF Allocation Plans for Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Vermont are available on NLIHC’s HTF Implementation webpage at: http://nlihc.org/issues/nhtf/state-allocation-plans. Allocation Plans for the other states will be added as they become 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