House Panel Votes to Increase HUD Funding by $6.8 Billion
The House Appropriations Committee today voted to approve $56.5 billion for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for fiscal year 2022, an increase of $6.8 billion above the fiscal year 2021 level.
The legislation:
- Includes $29.2 billion for the Section 8 Tenant-based Rental Assistance program to continue to serve more than 2.3 million very low- and extremely low-income households nationwide.
- Provides $14 billion for the Section 8 Project-based Rental Assistance program to continue to house more than 1.2 million very low- and low-income households nationwide, an increase of $545 million above fiscal year 2021.
- Doubles funding for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiativeto $400 million, an increase of $200 million above fiscal year 2021.
- Provides $3.7 billion for Community Development Block Grants, an increase of $265 million above fiscal year 2021. This also includes $1.85 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which has helped preserve approximately 1.33 million affordable homes.
- Includes $50 million for a new down payment assistance program to help first-time, first-generation home buyers purchase a home.
H-2B Win
In a related development, the House Appropriations Committee also passed its fiscal year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill that will allow builders to employ workers who have H-2B guest worker visas. The bill originally contained problematic provisions that would have prohibited construction's use of the H-2B program.
NAHB sent a letter to members of the Appropriations Committee urging them to remove these provisions from the legislation, and an amendment introduced by Rep. Andy Harris (D-Md.) to do so was approved by a voice vote. As a result, residential construction firms will be able to hire foreign workers with H-2B visas who come temporarily to the United States to perform temporary non-agricultural services or labor — including construction work — on a one-time, seasonal, peakload or intermittent basis.