National Housing Law Project Housing Law Bulletin

On April 30, by a vote of 242 to 193 in the House and 80 to 19 in the Senate, Congress approved Emergency Supplemental funding for Fiscal Year 1998. On May 1st, the President signed the bill, H.R.3579, into law.

HUD's Section 8 Reserve Preservation Account is being raided to the tune of $2.3 billion to provide funding for this past winter's disaster relief.¹ The conferees observed that the President has proposed that the excess reserves be used to reduce FY 1999 funding needs. The report provides that "[c]learly, the conferees understand that the Section 8 renewal account must be fully funded in order to protect the homes of those families who rely on the assistance."²

Despite passionate protests by Representatives Joseph Kennedy, Bruce Vento and others on the House floor against the transfer of low-income housing funds, Representative Robert Livingston, Chair of the full Appropriations Committee, declared that no currently housed families will be affected by the rescission. While acknowledging that $10.8 billion will be needed to fund Section 8 contract renewals in FY 1999, Chairman Livingston asserted that more than $3.6 billion has been identified in the reserve account that "absolutely will not be needed this year, according to a review done by GAO [at Congress's request]." He urged members to support the measure with assurances that renewal needs will be dealt with in addressing the FY 1999 budget.

The President signed the measure on May 1, 1998, noting with regret in his signing statement that emergency relief for disaster victims caused "unwarranted cuts in existing housing programs for low-income Americans."

¹  CONF. REP. NO. 504, 105th Cong., 2d Sess., to accompany H.R. 3579 (Apr. 30, 1998).
²  Id., tit. 2, ch. 7, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations — Rescissions.