FY23 Federal Funding Update
We were happy to see the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 pass in late December, although somewhat disappointed that it did not provide substantial funding increases for our field. The HOME and CDBG programs saw their funding maintained at FY22 levels and the SHOP program saw less than a 10 percent increase. Meanwhile, inflation and other economic pressures have only intensified the need for these resources in our communities. Driving this point home, the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies recently released an analysis of U.S. Census data that showed 2021 set a record for the most households with housing cost burdens.
However, there are two items from the FY23 funding bill that are worth noting:
- The annual allocation to NeighborWorks America (NWA) included $4 million for developing shared equity housing and promoting adoption of shared equity homeownership models in NWA affiliates, a $1 million increase from the previous year.
- HUD was provided $225 million to run a program that seeks to “preserve and revitalize” manufactured housing, with a particular focus on resident-owned manufactured housing. See ROC USA’s summary.
AFFH Proposed Final Rule
One of the most significant items of recent federal housing policy news was an announcement by HUD on January 19 that they will be releasing a proposed final rule on “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing”, commonly known as AFFH. The proposed rule was published for public comment on February 9 and can be seen here. Comments are due by April 10.
The recent history of AFFH has been troubled. A rule was published in 2015 that was the first modern attempt at enforcing the AFFH requirement in the Fair Housing Act. The 2015 rule created a requirement for HUD grantees to submit to HUD an Assessment of Fair Housing, or AFH, that identified barriers to fair housing in their communities and described their strategies for overcoming those barriers. Along with this requirement, HUD also developed resources for grantees to produce this analysis, such as the AFFH Mapping Tool. While there were critiques of this reporting requirement being too onerous, it helped ensure that HUD was achieving its statutory objectives and gave local governments new tools to proactively encourage equitable policymaking. However, these requirements were effectively suspended by the last Administration until a new proposed rule was announced in 2019 that would have removed the reporting requirements almost entirely. The newest iteration restores much of the 2015 rule.
More information can be found in HUD’s press release, including comments from Secretary Fudge and information on submitting comments.
Restoring Communities Left Behind Act — 2023 Reintroduction
On February 6, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) reintroduced the Restoring Communities Left Behind Act (RCLB), which was included as part of the Build Back Better legislation that passed the House in 2021. RCLB would create a competitive grant program supporting the work of local partnerships to invest in and revitalize the places where communities have been left behind. We thank Congresswoman Kaptur and Congresswoman Tlaib for reintroducing this legislation, and for recognizing the critical role that community land trusts and shared equity homeownership would play under this program to support community development and prevent displacement. The press release can be found here. The bill itself can be found here.
