Congress Reduces Funding for HUD Section 202 in FY 2015 Budget

The 113th U.S. Congress adjourned after passing a spending bill to keep federal programs in operation through the end of September 2015. The “cromnibus” designation for the fiscal 2015 spending bill (H.R. 83) means that some federal programs got funding continued at 2014 levels, while other programs got new funding levels from draft spending measures developed in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees earlier this year.

• The Section 202 program received just $420 million -- $20 million below the President’s request. The account received an estimated $350 for PRAC renewals and $70 million for service coordinators grants, which is $2 less than FY14. 
   
• The final FY15 report language only notes that no FY15 funding may be used for the Section 202 demonstration. The FY14 funding for the Section 202 demonstration had become a contentious issue in the House and Senate bills as the original House bill included report language to restrict the amount and use of the demonstration funds. It appears the demonstration remains intact thanks to advocacy by LeadingAge members. 
   
• The bill also authorizes the secretary to “sweep” the Section 202 residual receipt accounts for up to $16 million. LeadingAge learned that HUD intends to use those funds for SPRAC renewals. 
   
• Section 8 Project-based Rental Assistance (PBRA) was funded at $9.7 billion for PBRA, approximately $170 million below the FY14 amount. 
   
• In addition the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) permanently extends RAD Component 2 and authorizes the older assisted "orphan" programs to convert to long-term PBRA contracts under Component 2 for the first time. The bill also raises the cap on the number of public housing units that can participate in RAD Component 1 from 60,000 to 185,000 and extends it through 2018.

Contact: Ken Harris, kharris@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8835