House Appropriations Subcommittee Approves FY25 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Funding Bill

Today, the House Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Subcommittee marked up and approved the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the bill July 10.

The subcommittee-passed bill would provide $64.827 billion for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is $5.242 billion below the FY24 enacted level. Funding levels for programs of interest include:

• $32.3 billion for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, approximately equal to the FY24 enacted level and approximately $500 million lower than the President’s Budget Request.
• $16.6 billion for Project-Based Rental Assistance, approximately $500 million higher than the FY24 enacted level and approximately equal to the President’s Budget Request.
• $3.3 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program, equal to the FY24 enacted level and $370 million higher than the President’s Budget Request.
• $4.1 billion for Homelessness Assistance Grants, equal to the FY24 enacted level and President’s Budget Request.
• $500 million for the HOME Investment Partnerships program, $750 million lower than the FY24 enacted level and President’s Budget Request.
• $931.4 million for the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program, $18 million higher than the FY24 enacted level and equal to the President’s Budget Request.
• $256.7 million for the Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities program, $39 million higher than the FY24 enacted level and equal to the President’s Budget Request.
• $2.2 billion in Community Project Funding, or earmarks, $1.1 billion lower than the FY24 enacted level and $2.2 billion higher than the President’s Budget Request.

In addition, the legislation would set the following limits for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guaranteed loans and Ginnie Mae-backed securities for FY25:

• $400 billion in guaranteed loans for FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance, equal to the FY24 enacted level and President’s Budget Request.
• $35 billion in guaranteed loans for the General and Special Risk Insurance program, equal to the FY24 enacted level and President’s Budget Request.
• $550 billion in guaranteed loans for Ginnie Mae, equal to the FY24 enacted level and President’s Budget Request.

The bill also includes language directing HUD to pursue new Performance-Based Contract Administration (PBCA) awards through a new competition on a state-by-state basis to eligible public housing agencies, including HFAs, to be renewed every seven years, with preferences for applicants with experience managing properties receiving project-based rental assistance.

Subcommittee Chairman Steve Womack (R-AR) opened the markup noting the bill represents a 7.3 percent reduction below the FY24 level and would cut or eliminate 14 grant programs across the Departments of Transportation and HUD, totaling nearly $3 billion in savings.

Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), by contrast, expressed opposition to the bill, citing cuts to the HOME program in particular. Her statement noted:

“Despite an escalating homelessness crisis, the bill guts the HOME program, the sole federal program dedicated to affordable housing construction, by 60 percent, to levels that predate 1992. That translates to thousands of affordable homes that will not be built or rehabilitated, and housing opportunities stripped from thousands of renters and homebuyers. We are facing a historic shortage of nearly 8 million affordable homes nationwide, and coupled with higher borrowing costs, housing is less affordable than ever for homebuyers and for renters.”

The text of the legislation as passed by the subcommittee may be found here; a summary is available here.