National Housing Law Project Housing Law Bulletin

Housing Authorization and FY 1997 Funding Measures
Put on Hold Until After August Recess

Although Senate consideration of HUD's appropriation for the coming fiscal year was slated to begin before the August recess, final action was delayed as Congress rushed to get several high-profile measures to the President for signature, including changes in welfare and health care coverage. Of the 13 funding bills to be considered by Congress, only agriculture appropriations was completed and transmitted to the President for action before the recess.²

HUD Appropriations Bills

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved funding levels only slightly higher than the House in a few specific areas.³ Senator Chris Bond, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee's VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Subcommittee, has given indications of his resolve to produce a "clean" bill, not one laden with authorizing provisions that go beyond FY 1996 appropriations measures.⁴

In adopting the appropriations bill in June, the House declined to extend for FY 1997 all the administrative provisions that had been included in the continuing resolutions and finally in the Omnibus Appropriations Act under which government operations for the current fiscal year have been funded. At the time of floor consideration of the appropriations bill in the House, public housing authorization legislation that would have made these administrative changes permanent seemed possible for consideration prior to the August recess. Although the full Senate will not take up H.R. 3666 until after the August recess, the bill reported out of committee lays out what Senate action might be expected.⁵

A minimum rent of up to $25 is among the most important of the House-adopted administrative provisions for public housing residents. The provision of current law that authorizes HUD or a public housing authority to grant a three-month waiver in hardship cases was deemed unnecessary because PHAs have discretion to impose a minimum rent from $1 to $25. The Senate Appropriations Committee opted for the more stringent current law, i.e., a mandatory minimum of from $25 to $50, with HUD authority to waive the minimum rent for one maximum three-month period during the entire time a family is receiving housing assistance.⁶

It is anticipated that an amendment will be offered on multifamily portfolio restructuring likely to track the measure recently introduced by Senators Mack, Bond and D'Amato, and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.⁷

The Senate Appropriations Committee zeroed out direct funding for the Tenant Opportunity Program (TOP), which had received $15 million in the House appropriations bill as a set-aside from public housing capital funds. The Committee adopted a new structure that proposed "elimination of the antiquated `Annual contributions for assisted housing' account which was a catchall for a large number of different categorical programs."⁸ The Senate Committee's approach was to reduce the number of categorical programs, leaving funding decisions on programs such as TOP and homeownership counseling made lower case to local control.

Unlike the House, the Senate Appropriations Committee would reenact the administrative provisions that had been included in the FY 1996 Omnibus Appropriations Act and its predecessor continuing resolutions. These include suspension of the fed eral preferences, the Section 8 multifamily portfolio changes, including the repeal of the ban on discrimination against certificate and voucher holders, and the elimination of the one-for-one replacement requirement for public housing. Although the Senate had scheduled floor time for consideration of the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill as one of the first orders of business when it reconvenes in September, the final form of HUD funding remains uncertain at best.

The possibility of a presidential veto as a result of, among other things, the defunding of AmeriCorps (the President's favored national service program) is thrown into question by the Senate's restoration of the program. Whether a free-standing HUD appropriations bill will be transmitted to the President for signature or folded into a larger continuing resolution to fund government operations for part of FY 1997, which commences October 1, is also open to question.

HUD Authorization Bills

Although the House named its conferees in May, immediately after floor consideration of its bill, the Senate officially named conferees only shortly before the recess. The Senate conferees are Senators D'Amato (NY), Mack (FL), Bond (MO), Faircloth (NC), Sarbanes (MD), Kerry (MA), and Moseley-Braun (IL). The House conferees are Representatives Lazio (NY), Leach (IA), Bereuter (NE), Baker (LA), Castle (DE), Kennedy (MA), Gonzalez (TX), and Vento (MN).

Just before the recess, as the culmination of six weeks of staff-level discussions, the Senate staff made an offer to the House that noted areas of agreement but demanded that some very basic outstanding issues be left for resolution by the conferees themselves. The principal outstanding issues include the Brooke Amendment rent protections, targeting for both public and choice-based housing, repeal of the 1937 Housing Act, and occupancy standards. The House staff completely rejected the Senate staff offer, and discussions have virtually shut down for the August recess.

The shortage of legislative days available after the recess poses even more of a dilemma for an authorization bill than for a funding bill. Housing authorization does not appear to be a high priority for a Congress anxious to exit Washington in order to campaign. Unless a conference report upon which there is virtual total agreement can be brought to the floor — particularly in the Senate — public housing legislation may not even be considered in the waning days of the 104th Congress.

1. Appropriations bills: H. 3666, An Act, Making Appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development, and for Sundry Independent Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Corporations, and Offices for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 1997, and for Other Purposes, H.R. REP. NO. 628, 104th Cong., 2d Sess. (June 18, 1996); S. REP. NO. 318, 104th Cong., 2d Sess. (July 11, 1996). Authorization bills: H.R. 2406, United States Housing Act of 1996, 142 CONG. REC. H4837-H4880 (May 10, 1996); S. 1260, Public Housing Reform and Empowerment Act, 142 CONG. REC. H4738-H4753 (May 9, 1996).
2. See House Appropriations for Rural Housing: Drastic Reductions in Rental Housing Funds, 26 HOUS. L. BULL. 105 (July 1996). On Friday, August 2, 1996, the measure was sent to the President for signature, and on August 6, 1996, it was signed into law. Pub. L. No. 104-180 (Aug. 6, 1996); Conference Report, H.R. REP. NO. 104-726 (July 30, 1996).
3. See House Passes HUD Appropriations Bill for FY 1997, 26 HOUS. L. BULL. 105 (July 1996), and Late-Breaking Senate Appropriation Action, 26 HOUS. L. BULL. 103 (July 1996).
4. See Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, I, Pub. L. No. 104-99, 110 Stat. 26 (Jan. 26, 1996), 142 CONG. REC. H883 (Jan. 25, 1996); Balanced Budget Downpayment Act, II, Pub. L. No. 104-1134, 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 FY 1996 (also known as the Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY 1996).
5. S. REP. NO. 318, supra note 1, at 45.
6. H.R. 3666, tit. II, § 201(c)(3).
7. S. 2042, Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1996, 104th Cong., 2d Sess. (Aug. 2, 1996). For more on the issue of expiring Section 8 contracts, see "The Housing Disaster That's Not Being Fixed": A Critique, elsewhere in this issue.
8. S. REP. NO. 318, supra note 1, at 29.