HUD released its strategic plan for fiscal years (FYs) 2022-2026 on March 28, outlining the department’s objectives for the next four years as well as its strategies for assessing and achieving those objectives. In the plan, HUD lays out five overarching strategic goals: supporting underserved communities; ensuring access to and increasing the production of affordable housing; promoting homeownership; advancing sustainable communities; and strengthening HUD’s internal capacity.
Supporting underserved communities: HUD commits itself to strengthening Fair Housing compliance and enforcement. The department notes it will focus on building relationships with local service providers to improve awareness and delivery of services and will issue guidance to increase Fair Housing Act protections, including introducing an improved Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule and AFFH assessment tool.
Additionally, the department emphasizes its commitment to preventing and ending homelessness through a Housing First approach. Housing First recognizes access to safe, stable housing as an essential first step to long-term housing stability for people experiencing homelessness. Stable housing provides the foundation needed to utilize wrap-around services, find and maintain employment, and improve overall quality of life. HUD announces a goal to “make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring by reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness by 15%” by the end of September 2023.
HUD will also promote equitable community development by enforcing Section 3 requirements, which bolster the department’s financial support for residents and communities by providing residents with jobs and employment training and awarding contracts to businesses owned by and employing Section 3 residents. The department commits itself to working across agencies to support entrepreneurship and wealth-building for HUD-assisted residents.
Ensuring access to and increasing the production of affordable housing: In addition to supporting the financing and production of new affordable housing, HUD will partner with state and local governments to identify and eliminate barriers to housing production, including exclusionary zoning practices. The department will conduct “learning and listening sessions” with local leaders and residents to improve the preservation and development of affordable housing. HUD also notes its commitment to preserving existing HUD-assisted housing by leveraging Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program funds to “stabilize and rehabilitate properties.”
HUD will increase the utilization of Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) as well as the occupancy rates of public housing and multifamily properties, with the goal of “increasing occupancy rates to 96% in the Public and Multifamily Housing programs and the budget utilization rate to 100% in the HCV program” by the end of September 2023. The department plans on working with Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to increase voucher utilization rates, including providing toolkits for PHAs on running voucher mobility programs and strengthening incentives for PHAs to expand households’ housing options.
To increase the quality of HUD-assisted housing, the department will seek to eliminate the backlog in Public and Multifamily Housing inspections that have accrued since the beginning of the pandemic. HUD will also work to create new accountability procedures to hold property owners participating in HUD programs accountable for poor living conditions and modernize its information technology systems to better track voucher utilization and occupancy rates in HUD-assisted housing.
Promoting homeownership: HUD intends to lead a review of existing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan underwriting guidelines, lending standards, and service protocols to increase the accessibility of FHA programs to low- and moderate-income borrowers. Similarly, the department will continue to examine the servicing standards of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) Mortgage-Backed Securities program to provide greater access to capital to those participating in a homeownership program, and the department aims to engage “non-traditional lenders” to better reach underserved communities.
Additionally, the department will implement updated Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards to ensure that manufactured housing is built to be high-quality, affordable, durable, and safe. HUD also emphasizes the necessity of improving access to HUD-approved Housing Counseling services to increase access to homeownership for low- and moderate-income households.
HUD proposes targeting HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds to “homeownership-related activities,” including housing construction, rehabilitation, and down-payment assistance. The department will also promote affordability in high-cost housing markets through shared equity models and expand financing for the construction and renovation of properties, including Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), two-to-four-unit properties, and condominiums.
Advancing sustainable communities: The department is dedicated to expanding available resources for climate resilient projects and promoting environmental justice through its Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) programs. In addition, HUD will strengthen existing green building codes and standards across programs to promote energy efficiency and continue offering FHA-insured financing to borrowers to facilitate energy-efficient and climate-resilient upgrades to existing housing stock.
Recognizing the threat to health and safety posed by lead-based paint, radon, and other environmental hazards, HUD set a goal of “making an additional 20,000 units of at-risk housing units healthy and lead-safe” by the end of September 2023. The department will work with other federal agencies to launch a whole-of-government approach to addressing lead hazards, including its new initiative RECLAIM, an interagency pilot program to support community-driven efforts to revitalize distressed neighborhoods located near hazardous waste sites. HUD also intends to develop department-wide and program-specific policies to reduce residents’ exposure to radon.
The department will coordinate with federal health partners to improve health outcomes for residents of assisted housing, with a particular focus on positive maternal and child health outcomes. In addition, HUD and its federal partners intend to work together to integrate housing and healthcare services, with a focus on providing services to older adults so they can age-in-place, as well as ensuring people with disabilities have the assistance needed to live in integrated communities of their choosing, rather than institutions or other congregate settings.
Strengthening HUD’s internal capacity: HUD will focus on expanding and strengthening its workforce through opportunities for professional development and by fostering an inclusive, engaged environment in its offices. The department also aims to improve the transparency, collaboration, and efficiency of its property acquisition process, including by providing best practices to help offices develop their own requirements, identify funding, and submit requests. HUD will continue improving its cybersecurity and data management tools, its management and oversight of grants, and its understanding of residents’ experiences.
Read HUD’s FY2022-2026 strategic plan at: https://tinyurl.com/4thyvdar