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On Wednesday, July 20, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) full Committee Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member McHenry will host a virtual hearing entitled, “Banking the Unbanked: Exploring Private and Public Efforts to Expand Access to the Financial System."
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Witnesses for this one-panel hearing will be:
• The Honorable Marcia Fudge, Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Background
On March 10, 2021, the Honorable Marcia Fudge was sworn in as the eighteenth Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Prior to serving as the Secretary of HUD, Secretary Fudge served as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Ohio’s 11th District from 2008 to 2021, and as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, from 2000 to 2008. In the months Secretary Fudge was confirmed, HUD has worked to respond to increases in housing instability and homelessness caused by the coronavirus pandemic, proposed new investments in our nation’s housing infrastructure as part of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, and rolled back actions the Trump administration took to undermine the Fair Housing Act.
American Rescue Plan
With millions out of work, facing eviction and foreclosure, and struggling to make ends meet, President Biden worked with Congress to sign the American Rescue Plan (ARP) into law in March 2021. In order to help stabilize people experiencing homelessness, renters, and homeowners struggling to make their housing payments, ARP included $21.5 billion in additional emergency rental assistance and nearly $10 billion for the Homeowner Assistance Fund to be administered through the Department of the Treasury. It also provided funding for HUD-administered programs, including $5 billion to fund emergency housing vouchers for people experiencing or at risk of homeless and survivors of domestic violence, $5 billion through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program to finance supportive services, affordable housing, and the acquisition of non-congregate shelter (such as hotels) specifically for people currently experiencing homelessness, as well as critical funding for housing counseling services and fair housing enforcement.
In May, HUD announced that it had allocated 70,000 emergency housing vouchers to public housing agencies across the country to distribute to eligible households and has issued program rules and guidance. HUD has also allocated ARP HOME funds and is in the process of developing guidance for the program. Additionally, while HUD is not directly administering ARP emergency rental assistance funds (the program is run through the Department of the Treasury), the agency is providing technical assistance and expertise to grantees to help them quickly scale up local emergency rental assistance programs and manage federal funds provided by ARP and the CARES Act.
American Jobs Plan
The ongoing pandemic and resulting economic instability continue to have devastating effects on many communities, as millions of households struggle to remain stably housed or are forced to live in tents, on streets, and under highways. The U.S. has not experienced a full and equitable recovery as people of color, particularly women of color, continue to experience disproportionately high unemployment rates, households of color and low-income households experience higher shares of housing payment arrearages and mortgage defaults, and communities of color on average show lower vaccination rates. In order to create more jobs and jumpstart the nation’s economic recovery, President Biden proposed funding major housing measures in the American Jobs Plan (AJP).
Specifically, the AJP calls for $318 billion in new housing investments, including direct spending and tax credits. The direct spending includes funding for HUD programs including $40 billion to repair public housing, $45 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund, $35 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, $3 billion for lead abatement, $2 billion for Native American housing needs, $2 billion for supportive housing for low-income seniors. The AJP also proposes $5 billion to incentivize communities to reform zoning policies, $10 billion for a new Community Revitalization Fund, and $2 billion for a new Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) resiliency program. While the AJP’s housing investments were excluded from the bipartisan infrastructure agreement reached between the White House and Senate Republicans, President Biden has affirmed that funding for housing would be included in separate reconciliation legislation...
Hearing page: financialservi...
28 окт 2024
