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HUD is spending well over $5 billion annually to pay for heat and power for public housing authorities and subsidized rental units, or to assist low-income households who pay those utility bills directly, yet it is failing to take full advantage of existing energy-efficiency programs and “wasting taxpayers’ money,” says Charlie Harak, author of the report, “Up the Chimney: How HUD's Inaction Costs Taxpayers Millions and Drives Up Utility Bills for Low-Income Families.”
Through its Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program, HUD is offering grants totaling approximately $110 million to help eliminate lead-based paint from lower-income homes and to protect young children from lead poisoning. The grants are available for state and local governments.
Qualified entities can apply for supplementary funding to promote and develop a local Healthy Housing initiative, build on their lead hazard control program, or to address multiple housing-related health hazards in accordance with HUD's identified best practices.
HUD's Family Unification Program has awarded $20 million in Housing Choice Vouchers to public housing agencies (PHAs) in 20 states to prevent children from being separated from their families due to inadequate housing.
The PHAs that received the funding work closely with local child welfare agencies to identify families with children in foster care or who are at risk of being placed in foster care and youth at risk of homelessness.
HUD has delegated the authority to approve certain Compliance, Disposition and Enforcement (CDE) plans to regional Hub directors. Effective with the issuance of Notice H 2010-12 on July 9, 2010, Hub directors now have the authority to approve all CDE plans except those that recommend accelerating and/or foreclosing on an insured and/or assisted loan or those that recommend relocating residents and abating a Section 8 contract.
In a letter dated July 6, 2010, HUD advised multifamily housing mortgagees of revisions to underwriting standards, policies, and procedures for mortgage insurance under certain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spent time on Capitol Hill in May testifying before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services about an important new development at the Department, which involves the Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance Act (PETRA).
PETRA is a multi-year initiative proposed in President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget that seeks to preserve HUD-funded public and assisted housing, enhance housing choice for residents, and streamline the department's rental assistance programs.
Developers or housing authorities applying for HUD grant funds now have to make sure that they are complying with state and local antidiscrimination laws that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals if they wish to receive those funds. HUD has just published a notice detailing the general requirements that will apply to all of its competitively awarded grant programs for fiscal year 2010.
HUD has begun the process of implementing the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act), consolidating three separate assistance programs into a single grant program.
The HEARTH Act creates the Emergency Solutions Grant Program and the Rural Housing Stability Program, and codifies the Continuum of Care planning process to assist homeless persons.
HUD, along with other national agencies and an advocacy group, wants families to get the message about the dangers of lead and the health risks it poses to children and pregnant women.
In an initiative to raise awareness of the consequences of lead poisoning among those who live in homes built before 1978, HUD joined the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Ad Council to kick off a national multimedia public service advertising (PSA) campaign.
HUD and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are collaborating to provide housing assistance for nonelderly individuals with disabilities. Approximately $40 million is being made available to support independent living as an alternative to institutional care.
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