Federal Housing Funds Available to States
hroughout the country, housing reform — a cornerstone of community renewal — has quietly languished at the state level. States haven’t done enough on housing policy as a framework for promoting self-sufficiency while local housing non-profits and the federal government have picked up some, but not all, of the slack.
Yet, most states can ill-afford to send back funds earmarked to help poor people find decent housing.
As of last summer, Texas had failed to spend over $100 million in federal housing money set aside to help homeowners refurbish houses, provide down-payment assistance, and finance apartment construction. As of August 1998, Texas’ Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) spent only half of the funds received through the Home Investment Partnership Program since 1992, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The good news is many state legislators are working to change that course. At CPA’s Housing Finance Forum in Corpus Christi, Texas, in November, fifty advocates, community leaders, corporate representatives, government officials and legislators developed strategies to utilize federally available housing dollars at the state level and learn about existing programs that make federal housing money available to states.
One such program, the Community Investment Program of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Dallas, makes discounted funds available to member banks, who must use the funds to stimulate housing and community development projects.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s “HOME” program is one of the most innovative and broad. In Texas, HUD distributes block grants to the TDHCA, which competitively distributes the awards to non-profit and for-profit groups who serve people at or below 80 percent of the median income in the area. Funds can be set aside for special needs categories such as low-income elderly, those with AIDS or the disabled, and can be used for down-payments, construction loans, closing costs or rental assistance.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) works through initiatives that target rural areas, including Enterprise Zone and Empowerment Community designations, to use incentives to attract private sector groups and encourage investment into basic community infrastructure, including housing.
“The tools to turn this situation around are here,” said Texas State Representative Garnet Coleman (FF ’95). “We’ve gained a better idea of how to take advantage of these funding opportunities. Now we’ve got to go back and jump-start community revitalization by making safe and decent housing more available to those who need it.”
Challenges remain, however.
“On some level, issues like affordability aren’t going to go away for many people,” said CPA Revitalizing Communities Director Bridget Ware. “Particularly for those on a fixed income or for low-to-moderate income families who rent, finding housing for which they aren’t paying a majority of their monthly incomes is critical. That’s all the more reason why we need to maximize the use of the resources out there.”
CPA’s Housing Finance Forum was a cooperative effort between the Revitalizing Communities program, the Southwest Community Policy and Leadership Forum and the Southeast Community Policy and Leadership Forum.
