National Housing Law Project Housing Law Bulletin

The past two years have brought enormous changes to the federal housing programs and the availability of their assistance to this nation’s poorest people. Some were brought about by funding cuts, others by statutory or regulatory changes. In all but a few minor instances, the revisions (and rescissions) have had and will continue to have an adverse impact on those most in need of housing assistance, both in qualitative protections and forms of assistance and in the number of households served. Most of these developments were reported in the Housing Law Bulletin as they were unfolding. The following table is a sobering recap of how far we have recently strayed as a nation from our ultimate goal of ensuring a decent home and living environment for all of us.¹

I. HOUSING FUNDING CUTS

Public housing operating subsidies are shrinking beneath Performance Funding System (PFS) needs.

• Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation: $2.9 billion (96% of PFS)
• FY 1996 Appropriation: $2.8 billion (90% of PFS)
• FY 1997 Appropriation: $2.9 billion (90% of PFS)

• Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation: $3.7 billion
• FY 1995 Rescission: $2.88 billion
• FY 1996 Appropriation: $2.5 billion
• FY 1997 Appropriation: $2.5 billion

• Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation: $500 million
• FY 1996 Appropriation: $480 million (primarily demolition)
• FY 1997 Appropriation: $550 million (primarily demolition)

• Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation: $598 million
• FY 1995 Rescission: $102 million
• FY 1996 Appropriation: -0-
• FY 1997 Appropriation: -0-

• Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation: $2.785 billion (62,774 households)
• FY 1995 Rescission: -0- ($829 million for replacement only)
• FY 1996 Appropriation: -0- ($400 million for replacement only)
• FY 1996 Appropriation: -0- ($190 million for replacement only)

• Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, I (BBA-I): PHAs must delay reissuance of certificates and vouchers for three months.
• FY 1997 Appropriations Act: Same

• Fiscal Year 1995 Appropriation: $1.12 billion
• FY 1995 Rescission: $297 million deferred to FY 1996
• FY 1996 Appropriation: $823 million
• FY 1997 Appropriation: $823 million

Rents are rising.

• $25 mandatory minimum rent: Enacted through 9/30/96 (BBA-I)
• $0–$50 minimum rent: Enacted through 9/30/97 (FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Adjustments for earned income — public housing : Enacted through 9/30/97 (BBA-I and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Ceiling rent reforms: Enacted through 9/30/97 (BBA-I and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• 40th percentile FMR: Enacted through 9/30/97 (BBA-I and FY 1997 Appropriations Act); regulatory change (Aug. 1995)
• Rents may not be decreased when family loses welfare because of fraud: Permanently enacted (Welfare Act, § 911(a))
• "Zero-rent" tenants may be denied shelter component of welfare grant: Permanently enacted (Welfare Act, § 110(d))

Assisting households with the greatest need is no longer a top priority; discrimination against assisted households is now permitted; past history will affect eligibility.

• Federal preferences for applicants with greatest need: Suspended through 9/30/97 (BBA-I and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Ban on skipping over poor applicants:  Suspended for public housing through 9/30/97 (BBA-I and FY 1997   Appropriations Act)
• Ban on discrimination against certificate and voucher holders: Suspended through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 203(a), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Simplified designation of  housing for elderly only: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 10)
• Access to criminal records for screening: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(b))
• Drug users ineligible: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(d))
• Alcohol abusers ineligible: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(d))
• Tenants evicted for drugs ineligible for three years: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(c))
• Undocumented immigrants’ eligibility for Rural Housing Service and HUD programs and for state and local public and assisted housing further restricted: Permanently enacted (Welfare Act and Immigration Act)

Swifter evictions for drug-related and other criminal activity; security of tenure threatened for Section 8 certificate and voucher tenants.

• Access to criminal records for evictions: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(b))
• Eviction of fleeing felons authorized: Permanently enacted (Welfare Act, § 903(a))
• Eviction for drug use: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(d))
• Eviction for alcohol abuse: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(d))
• Evictions for drug activity off premises: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(a))
• Bypassing grievances for off-premises drug activity: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(a))
• Bypassing grievances for non-criminal threats to health and safety: Permanently enacted (Extenders Act, § 9(a))
• Allowing Section 8 evictions without cause after lease expires: Enacted through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 203(c), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• 90-day notice for Section 8 evictions: Suspended through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 203(b), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)

Changes to facilitate HUD’s goal of demolishing 100,000 public housing units enacted.

• One-for-one replacement requirement: Suspended through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 201(b), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Site selection criteria for public housing replacement: Overridden through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 201(b), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Vacating buildings: Permitted through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 201(b), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Flexible use of modernization funds: Allowed through 9/30/97 (BBA-II, § 201(a), and FY 1997 Appropriations Act)
• Mandate to "voucher out" distressed public housing: Permanently enacted (BBA-II, § 202)
• Exempting "vouchering out" from Section 18: Permanently enacted (BBA-II, § 202(e))

Privately owned, HUD-subsidized housing will be lost through sales without subsidies, prepaid mortgages without use restrictions, nonrenewals of expiring Section 8 contracts, and restrictions on Section 8 Loan Management Set-Aside (LMSA) contract renewals to current tenants only.

• HUD may sell projects "as is," without subsidies: Permanently enacted (FY 1997 Appropriations Act, § 204)
• Landlords may prepay mortgages without restriction: Allowed through 9/30/97 (FY 1997 Appropriations Act
• Landlords may refuse to renew expiring Section 8 contracts: Permanently enacted (BBA-I, § 405(b); reenacted (FY 1997 Appropriations Act, § 211(b))
• After 9/30/96, HUD may renew Section 8 LMSA contracts only for current tenants: Permanently enacted (BBA-I, § 405(c))

HUD FY 1996 Appropriations Act Pub. L. No. 104-134, § 101(e), 110 Stat. 1321 (Apr. 26, 1996), 142 CONG. REC. H3920 (Apr. 25, 1996).

BBA-I Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, I, Pub. L. No. 104-99, 110 Stat. 26 (Jan. 26, 1996), 142 CONG. REC. H883 (Jan. 25, 1996).

BBA-II Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, II, Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (Apr. 26, 1996),   142 CONG. REC. H3920 (Apr. 25, 1996), Section 101(e) of which is the VA/HUD and   Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1996.

Extenders Act Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-120, 110 Stat. 834   (Mar. 28, 1996), 142 CONG. REC. H1267 (Feb. 27, 1996).

HUD FY 1997 Appropriations Act Pub. L. No. 104-204, 110 Stat. 2874 (Sept. 26, 1996)

Welfare Act Pub. L. No. 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105 (Aug. 22, 1996).

Immigration Act Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. ____ (Sept. 30, 1996).

1. See Notes for Abbreviations, infra, for full statutory citations.