Policy
President Proposes Level Funding Section 202 Appropriations
HUD Appropriation Subcommittee Battle Continues
President’s Plan to Eliminate CDBG


New and Notable Resources
AASC Regional Training Seminars
Novogradac’s Tax Credit Rent & Income Calculator ©
Two New Housing Data Reports Available Through Census Site


Housing Report

Policy
President Proposes Level Funding Section 202 Appropriations Level, For Now
Now that the President’s budget has been released the budget process is underway, AAHSA is pressing forward with our agenda for affordable elderly housing in the 109thh Congress. The growing deficit, a significant domestic agenda and the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have fueled the Administration’s call for cuts to domestic discretionary spending, especially under HUD. The President’s budget proposal calls for level funding for the overall Section 202 housing program, but zeroed out the 202 predevelopment grant program. As well, the budget proposal included a number of other drastic cuts including the elimination of HUD’s Community Development Block Grant, often a source of service funding and gap funding for senior housing, and Section 811 housing for persons with disabilities capital advance programs.

As the saying goes in Washington, the President proposes and the Congress disposes; so the next step will be for the Congressional budget committees to adopt a budget resolution based on congressional priorities. The House Chair Jim Nussle and his Senate counterpart, Judd Gregg have already indicated that Congress will likely direct the various authorizing committees to further reduce spending through the reconciliation process, a process that requires Congressional committees to enact policies, which will have the effect of reducing spending in particular programs and among categories of programs. They have also indicated that they are likely to impose budget caps for discretionary spending. Those funding levels included in the budget resolution will then be sent to the appropriations committees and their subcommittees where work will begin work on the annual appropriations bills later this year. At least that is how it is supposed to work. Stay tuned as the process unfolds.

Now is the time for AAHSA members to influence the budget process. For the housing and community development programs, it is critical that the budget include sufficient dollars to cover all the programs currently funded, including CDBG at HUD and funding for capital advances for housing for persons with disabilities. For a sample letter to your representatives and senators, go to AAHSA’s Contact Congress website.

To view the chart of the President’s budget proposal and Section 202 funding for the last four years, and an analysis of the proposal, click here.

To learn more about the federal budget, you can go to the website of the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities. Although many consider the Center to be a liberal think tank, it does have some startling data derived from the fine print of the federal budget that illustrates the difficult budget picture this year and into the future for affordable housing and other domestic discretionary programs.

HUD Appropriation Subcommittee Battle Continues
The House and Senate have yet to resolve their disagreement about how to align their respective appropriations subcommittees. The House has moved HUD appropriations to a subcommittee including transportation and treasury and assigned Representative Joseph Knollenberg (MI-9th) as the subcommittee chairman. John Olver (MA-1st) is the ranking member. While Cong. Knollenberg has served on the VA-HUD Subcommittee in the past and has provided support for HUD programs, the remaining members have on both sides of the aisle have not been re-assigned from VA-HUD. They are holdovers from Transportation-Treasury.

The Senate has maintained its subcommittee structure with Senator Christopher Bond (MO) chairing the VA/HUD appropriations subcommittee and Senator Mikulski (MD) as the ranking member.

The realignment was apparently a priority of House leadership to keep NASA from having to compete with VA for funding. It is unclear whether the Senate will eventually change their subcommittee structure this session or, if they don’t, how the two houses will be able to resolve appropriations bills in conference commitee. For more information, please contact Alayna Waldrum.

President’s Plan to Eliminate CDBG
Raising an outcry from the mayors and governors, the President proposed eliminating the Community Development Block Grant program, one of the most popular and flexible community programs available for local and state governments. Under the new framework the funding would be cut by over $1 billion and move it to the Commerce department and focused on redevelopment. See the last Housing Report.

AAHSA is working with a coalition of groups opposing the cut and program move given the importance of the CDBG in funding various senior housing development and services, such as meals and transportation. We are collecting information on the use of CDBG funds by AAHSA members. If you have an affordable senior housing project that receives or has received CDBG funds, please contact Alayna Waldrum. Include what the funds were or are being used for and the number of residents that your facility serves.


New and Notable Resources
AASC Regional Training Seminars
The American Association of Service Coordinators (AASC) and AOPHA will be offering regional training sessions in Columbus, Ohio on April 18 and 19 and St. Louis, Missouri on June 13 and 14. The two day session will cover the role of service coordinators, policies and procedures for services coordinators, the AASC program manual, documentation, accessibility, house rules and the Medicare drug card.

Novogradac’s Tax Credit Rent
& Income Calculator ©
The Rent & Income Limit Calculator© is now available for tax professionals from Novogradac & Company. While it does not determine eligibility for applicants the web-based program calculates IRS Section 42(i)(3)(A) low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) rents and tenant income limits for every county and for every Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States with up-to-date 2005 data. It provides the HUD sourced 30%, 50%, and 80% income limits for the selected county. Housing professionals can also modify the program parameters to calculate rent and income limits for other affordable housing programs.

Two New Housing Data Reports Available Through Census Site
Metropolitan reports for six metro areas, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia, surveyed as part of the 2003 national American Housing Survey are now available on the census website. The reports include characteristics of the entire housing inventory, including resident data and physical plant information. Download the Report.

The Property Owners and Managers Survey (POMS) is also available on the census website. The survey examines rental housing and its owners in counties and cities in 438 sampling areas. The purpose of the survey is to gain a better understanding of owners of affordable rental, the challenges they face, their priorities and how their rental and maintenance policies compare to other owners of rental properties. View the survey.