Administration Unveils Proposed Budget for 2007

The White House submitted its proposed 2007 budget for HUD and other federal departments to Congress today (02/06/2006). For the PIH office, the administration is recommending the following changes from actual 2006 funding levels (which take into account the one percent across-the-board rescission):

• Voucher program: an increase of about 3.2 percent, with all funding areas rising except those for family self-sufficiency coordinators and tenant protection vouchers
• Public housing program: a decrease of more than 10 percent in the capital fund and no change for the operating fund ($3.564 billion, or one percent less than the $3.6 billion approved by Congress)
• HOPE VI program: a decrease to zero and a rescission of all unused funds remaining at the end of 2006

The proposed HUD budget says very little about the transition to asset management in the public housing program, but it has this to say about the voucher program (emphasis added):

Tenant Based Rental Assistance. The 2005 Appropriations enacted several reforms to the funding structure of the Tenant-based Rental Assistance program (also known as the Housing Choice Voucher Program) but allows limited flexibility on the part of Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) to adjust to these changes. The Administration will continue to promote the State and Local Housing Flexibility Act of 2005 that will expand the dollar-based approach adopted by Congress and include the necessary flexibility to run effective and efficient programs. These reforms will improve the delivery of rental and homeownership subsidies for low-income families in a fiscally responsible manner, thereby ensuring the long-term sustainability of the tenant-based voucher program. The proposal includes greater PHA discretion in meeting local housing objectives and provides for steady and predictable funding levels adjusted annually for inflation.

To read HUD's summary of its proposed 2007 budget, click here. To read the department's news release on the subject, which celebrates the "significant increase" in proposed funding for the voucher program, click here.