White House Rescinds Order to Freeze Federal Funds

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has rescinded a memo authorizing the temporary freeze of many federal grants and loans. A one-paragraph memo issued by the OMB this afternoon said the agency was rescinding a memo issued earlier this week that called for a temporary pause on many federal grants, loans or financial assistance programs.

A federal judge halted the order on the original memo until at least Feb. 3.

After the first OMB memo was released on Jan. 27, NAHB staff worked to clarify the OMB statement to determine what effect it would have on federal housing programs by reaching out to several federal agencies and the White House. We received assurances from the White House and agencies that housing programs were not the intended target of the pause.

With the administration acting today to formally withdraw its memo to agencies that caused the funding freeze, this means that members of the housing community should not have problems closing their Federal Housing Administration loans, renewing their Housing Assistance Payment contracts, or receiving Housing Choice Voucher payments.