The partial federal government shutdown, now a month long, continues as Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse over funding for a southwestern border wall. Last week, House Democrats continued their efforts to end the shutdown by proposing various stopgap funding measures that would provide funding to federal agencies for several weeks, the longest of which would run through the end of February. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) continues to refuse to bring up any funding bills passed by the House for votes, despite the fact that they would very likely pass the Senate, because they do not include the additional border wall funding requested by President Trump.
House Democrats now plan to vote on a package of six FY19 appropriations bills (H.R. 648) that the House negotiated with the Senate prior to the shutdown. The bill provides funding for all currently unfunded agencies, including HUD and USDA but not Homeland Security.
The negotiated THUD bill builds on the 10% increase in HUD funding that advocates and congressional champions secured in FY18 by providing additional resources for several affordable housing programs. Compared to FY18 spending levels, the negotiated package increases funding for tenant-based rental assistance (funded at $22.6 billion), public housing ($4.6 billion for the operating account and $2.8 billion for the capital account), Project-Based Rental Assistance ($11.35 billion) and homeless assistance grants ($2.24 billion). The bill renews all contracts for Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities ($184 million) and provides enough funding for new construction under Section 202 Housing for the Elderly ($678 million). The HOME Investment Partnerships program received a slight cut (funded at $1.25 billion).
The proposed THUD appropriations bill also includes $25 million for a mobility-voucher demonstration for families with young children to help them move to areas of opportunity – half of the amount originally included in the original House spending bill. The bill does not, however, include an amendment introduced by Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) that would prohibit people charged with certain crimes from receiving housing assistance.
NLIHC will continue to keep you updated on the latest news related to the shutdown and its impacts on affordable housing. Please contact your members of Congress– particularly your senators – to urge them to end the shutdown.