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On July 1, the Democratic Party released its draft platform, a document that went before the full platform committee on July 8, before being debated and finalized at the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia at the end of July.
HUD recently announced $24 million in grants to assist more than 1,200 low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families annually. These grants provide a combination of housing assistance and supportive services for this vulnerable population. The funding is offered through HUD’s Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS Program (HOPWA) and will renew HUD’s support of 25 local programs.
HUD recently proposed a new formula for determining the amount of funding that a public housing agency (PHA) receives to administer the Housing Choice Vvoucher program.
HUD recently published a notice in the Federal Register entitled, “Using Small Area Fair Market Rents in Housing Choice Voucher Program Instead of the Current 50th Percentile FMRs.” HUD is proposing to use Small Area Fair Market Rents (FMRs) in place of the current 50th percentile rent to address high levels of voucher concentration. HUD’s goal in pursuing this rulemaking is to provide Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) tenants with a greater ability to move into areas where jobs, transportation, and educational opportunities exist.
HUD is awarding $5 million in grants to 24 public housing authorities in an effort to keep public housing residents safe and secure. HUD's Capital Fund Emergency Safety and Security Program supports public housing authorities as they address the safety of public housing residents.
These grants may be used to install, repair, or replace capital needs items including security systems/surveillance cameras, fencing, lighting systems, emergency alarm systems, window bars, deadbolt locks, and doors.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University recently released its annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report. The latest report reveals that 11.4 million households paid more than half their incomes for housing in 2014. This is the first time the United States has seen so many residents paying such a large portion of their income on rent. The number of cost-burdened renters, who pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing, reached 21.3 million.
In an effort to extend affordable Internet access to children and families living in federally assisted housing, HUD recently proposed a rule to require the installation of broadband infrastructure into most HUD-financed multifamily housing developments during their construction or substantial rehabilitation. The rule is entitled, “Narrowing the Digital Divide Through Installation of Broadband Infrastructure in HUD-Funded New Construction and Substantial Rehabilitation of Multifamily Rental Housing.”
HUD recently announced that it’s making $2 million available to support research to develop and improve methods for the identification and control of key residential health hazards. Key hazards include issues such as pest infestation, poor indoor air quality, injury prevention, mold and excess moisture, and lead in drinking water. It’s especially important to protect vulnerable populations, such as children, seniors, and people with chronic illnesses such as asthma, from exposure to these hazards.
HUD recently announced that it’s making $37.3 million available to fight housing discrimination under HUD's 2016 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). This year's three funding notices support a variety of important fair housing activities, including fair housing testing in the rental and sales market, public education efforts, capacity building, and education and outreach activities.
On April 17, after touring a public housing development in New York City, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Democratic presidential candidate, released his plan to address the affordable housing crisis in America. In describing the problem, Sanders says, “decent and affordable rental apartments are hard to come by, and millions of households are spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 7.1 million American households cannot find affordable housing.
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