Following the House’s passage of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations bill, which deals funding for the nation’s housing programs, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) released a statement expressing her staunch disapproval.
The Republican-endorsed legislation is set to cut a number of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) affordable housing and community development programs, and provide pint-sized funding levels for the Public Housing program. Additionally, the legislation diverts the funding for the Housing Trust Fund, which is a permanent federal fund focused on providing support to states to build, preserve and eventually increase the supply of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income and homeless families, to another HUD program for low-income families.
In response, Waters’ statement lambasted her GOP colleagues for failing to adequately fund the nation’s housing programs and for continually undercutting key housing programs put in place to protect underserved populations.
Ranking Member Al Green (D-Texas) offered to the Subcommittee on Oversight an amendment to repeal the Housing Trust Fund provision, but the amendment was opposed by Republicans on procedural grounds.
“I am disappointed that Republicans have yet again endorsed historically low funding levels for our nation’s housing programs. It’s telling that Republicans chose to consider this harmful measure in the dead of night, undercutting the Democratic process and impeding debate on this critical issue.
“The measure that was ultimately approved is yet another example of a Republican agenda that places families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities at the back of the line. These cuts to our housing programs risk the long-term sustainability of our public housing stock and reduce the quality of life for our most vulnerable residents and families. There are many harmful provisions in this legislation, but I’m most disheartened by efforts to revoke contributions to the Housing Trust fund, which provides states with critical resources to create much-needed rental housing for our lowest income Americans.
“Undercutting support to residents and families who need it the most is simply unacceptable. This measure exacerbates our current affordable housing crisis, and does nothing to address the challenges vulnerable households face to find housing that is safe, decent and affordable.”
Yet, the House accepted an amendment offered by Waters that removes the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles’ (HACoLA) current exemption from a requirement to have a resident of public housing or Section 8 on its governing board. Waters offered the amendment because HACoLA is not currently in compliance with the requirements outlined in the exemption, which she says has directly resulted in a lack of meaningful engagement by residents of the housing authority on important policy issues, hampering the effectiveness of the programs that it administers.
Waters also offered an amendment to ensure that HUD prioritizes the hiring of asset management staff in local field offices, instead of continuing to consolidate this important function within a select few “hub” and satellite offices. The purpose of the amendment is to address HUD’s major consolidation of its multifamily offices, known as the “Multifamily Transformation.”
After learning that HUD had not replaced vacancies in asset management positions in field offices, Waters successfully introduced an amendment to the fiscal year 2015 HUD funding bill that required it to stick to a modified version of the Transformation plan, which maintains asset management staff in field offices. She has further emphasized the importance of having asset management staff in local field offices to respond to local needs, citing their intimate knowledge of the local housing market, and the necessity of on-site visits to troubled properties. The amendment was withdrawn due to Republican opposition.
Another amendment offered by Congressman Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), attempted to impair HUD’s efforts to enforce the Fair Housing Act in such a way that relies on the disparate impact doctrine, which Democrats argue is an effective legal tool that has been used for decades to address policies that have the effect of discriminating against protected classes. Waters criticized the amendment as an effort to weaken HUD’s ability to protect Americans from discriminatory policies that deny them access to quality housing, quality neighborhood schools and other resources; however, Republicans voted to adopt it.