Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Releases Draft FY23 Funding Bill with Some Increases for Affordable Housing and Homelessness

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) released on July 28 its draft spending bill for fiscal year (FY) 2023. The bill would provide $70 billion, including $10.3 billion in offsets, for HUD’s affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs – an increase of $4.3 billion over FY22-enacted levels but $3 billion less than the House bill and $1.9 billion less than the amount proposed in President Biden’s FY23 budget request. See NLIHC’s full analysis and updated budget chart for more details.

The Senate bill would provide $30.18 billion for Housing Choice Vouchers, which is an increase of $2.8 billion over FY22-enacted levels and likely enough funding to renew all existing contracts, given current data. However, the proposal provides significantly less funding to expand vouchers to assist households than the funding proposed by the House or President Biden: the House bill would provide an additional 140,000 households with rental assistance, and President Biden’s budget request would provide an additional 200,000 households with rental assistance. The Senate bill would only expand rental assistance to approximately 5,000 additional households.

The Senate bill proposes to increase funding for some HUD programs compared to FY22, in some cases above the levels proposed by the House last month. The bill includes a $225 million increase to the HOME Investment Partnership program ($1.725 billion), which is $50 million more than the amount proposed by the House. The bill also proposes a $50 million increase to tribal housing programs ($1.052 billion), which is over $50 million more than the amount proposed by the House.

While some programs would receive an increase in funding compared to FY22, these programs are funded at levels lower than those proposed by the House. Project-Based Rental Assistance ($14.687 billion), Homeless Assistance Grants ($3.545 billion), the Housing for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program ($468 million), and the Public Housing Capital Fund ($3.405 billion) would receive more funding than in FY22, but less than the amounts proposed by the House bill.

Other programs would be provided less funding by the Senate bill than the FY22-enacted levels or the amounts proposed by the House. These include the Community Development Block Grant ($4.818 billion), Healthy Homes ($390 million), Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities ($288 million), and Choice Neighborhood Initiative Grant ($250 million) programs, as well as HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research ($115 million).

The Public Housing Operating Fund ($5.06 billion), Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program ($1.03 billion), and Fair Housing programs ($85 million) would receive level funding compared to FY22.

More advocacy is needed to ensure that the final spending bills provide robust funding to HUD programs. Because appropriations committee leaders have not yet reached a bipartisan agreement on topline spending numbers, the draft House and Senate bills were written by Democrats without input from Republicans. Any final spending bill must garner the support of at least 10 Senate Republicans to avoid a filibuster.

NLIHC expects Congress will need to enact a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open past the start of the new fiscal year on October 1 and to provide leadership with more time to negotiate, draft, and enact final spending bills by the end of the year.

Advocates should continue weighing in with their senators and representatives to urge them to expand investments in affordable, accessible homes through the FY23 spending bill, including for NLIHC’s top priorities:

  • $32.13 billion for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program to renew all existing contracts and expand housing vouchers to an additional 200,000 households.
  • $5.125 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund to preserve public housing, and $5.06 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund.
  • $3.6 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants program to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
  • $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions.
  • $300 million for the competitive tribal housing program, targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.

Read NLIHC’s full analysis of the Senate THUD draft spending bill at: https://bit.ly/3cRMjSX

Access NLIHC’s updated budget chart at: https://bit.ly/3OL53kh