House and Senate Appropriators Release Partial FY24 Omnibus Spending Legislation

On March 3, House and Senate appropriators released bill text for the first tranche of final Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) spending legislation that Congress must now pass by March 8. Among other agencies, the legislative package sets FY24 spending levels for the Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Highlights of the legislation include:

• $32.4 billion for tenant-based rental assistance, sufficient funding to renew all existing Section 8 vouchers and issue a limited number of new incremental vouchers for youth aging out of foster care and veterans at risk of homelessness.
• $16 billion for project-based rental assistance (PBRA), sufficient funding to renew all existing PBRA contracts, despite significantly higher rental costs.
• $1.25 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, a decrease of $250 million from the FY23 enacted level but significantly higher than the $500 million proposed by House appropriators.
• $4.05 billion for Homeless Assistance Grants, a $418 million increase over FY23.

Of note, the bill does not include language from the Senate-passed Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bill that would have directed HUD to issue new Performance-Based Contract Administration (PBCA) awards as cooperative agreements under a notice of funding opportunity. Instead, the bill contains language prohibiting HUD from issuing a solicitation substantially similar to the 2022 solicitation that was opposed by many members of Congress, and the joint explanatory statement (JES) accompanying the bill directs HUD “to ensure that any future funding arrangements for PBCAs do not impede housing finance agencies or PHAs from competing on a state-basis.” The JES further directs HUD to work with stakeholders and the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, Financial Services, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and to include a legislative proposal as part of its FY25 budget request.

In addition, to preserve the nation’s dwindling rural affordable housing stock, the spending package permits the Department of Agriculture to decouple rental assistance from properties with maturing Section 515 direct loans “when all other methods of preservation are exhausted.”

NCSHA’s updated budget chart reflecting spending levels included in the legislative package is available here.