Congress has approved a $1.3 trillion spending bill designed to provide funding for the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends September 30. The bill has been sent to the President’s desk for signature (although he is threatening to veto the bill because it does not provide enough funding for the “wall”). Assuming the bill is actually signed into law, it does spare a number of housing programs that the President wanted to severely cut or eliminate.
In the bill, HUD receives a $4.7 billion overall funding boost, instead of the $6 billion reduction the president sought.
The bill includes significant increases to programs the President had proposed cutting or killing, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the HOME program and a 42% increase in funding for the RAD program, which the President planned to eliminate completely.
The most important addition is an increase of $1.25 billion for HUD’s core rental assistance programs, including Section 8.
Thankfully, Congress has shown that it is not on board with the President’s desire to gut the nations affordable housing programs.