New Excel Database Tracks ALL HUD Grant Spending in FY 2009: $37.8 Billion in U.S., $281 Million in Oregon.

When I completed the Recovery Act HUD LOCAL grant database last week HERE it occurred to me that I MIGHT be able to construct a database of ALL HUD grant spending, NOT just HUD Recovery Act spending.

I am pleased to say I was able to do so and have put together a LOCAL Excel database HERE of 99,000+ HUD grant transactions covering ALL HUD FY 2009 spending ("obligations") through June 30, 2009, the first 9 months of the federal fiscal year. [For this purpose I consider "spending" to be an obligation of funds from HUD for a specific grantee--while possible, it likely does NOT mean that the money HAS been spent, but has been reserved for a specific grantee. Note that sub grantee data OR actual expenditure data is NOT available in the currently available public database].

To my knowledge, this is the FIRST and the only public database with this level of HUD LOCAL grant spending detail for FY 2009.

(NOTES: 1. Instructions in the Excel READ ME worksheet in the database show an easy way to isolate and analyze only the 27,000 Recovery Act transactions 2. File is 51 MB's in size, so only download if you have a broadband connection. File is in Excel 2007 file format. To download, RIGHT click Excel file link and select folder or desktop on your PC. [Be patient, file may take 5-20 minutes to download--time may vary if others are downloading at same time ]. 3. ALSO, some users report when they save Excel 2007 files they end up with a compressed .zip file extension. After you have right clicked file link to save file to your pc AND it has completely download, find the downloaded file, and if necessary, change the .zip extension to Excel 2007 extension (.xlsx), and THEN open the file with Excel].

Some quick stats from the database, as of June 30,2009:

1. ALL HUD grant obligations total $37.8 Billion vs $8.5 Billion for the Recovery Act.
2. Therefore, HUD Recovery Act grant obligations are 23%of total HUD grant obligations. Puerto Rico has the highest Recovery Act Grant % (vs total HUD spending) at 40%, while Louisiana has the lowest state rate at 6%. (Oregon's rate of Recovery Act spending to Total HUD spending is 18%). [Worksheet 5 in the workbook has an ALL state summary showing these dollars and percentages].
3. Housing Choice Vouchers and Special Section 8 project based Recovery Act allocations account for $20.9 Billion (55%) of the total of ALL FY 2009 HUD grant obligations to date.
4. Oregon PHA's have spent $171 Million in voucher related grants from HUD so far in FY 2009--that's 60% of the $284 million FY 2009 total of HUD grant obligations in Oregon . (See Pivot Table in Worksheet 6).
5. Note that database does NOT include ANY $ for the 15,000+ FHA SF loans made so far in Oregon in FY 2009. Those FHA loans would add $2 Billion+ to HUD spending in Oregon so far this fiscal year; by the end of the fiscal year FHA spending in Oregon could approach $3 billion.("FHA spending" is somewhat of a misnomer as funding originates and is spent by the private sector, with FHA acting only as a loan guarantor.
   

The workbook includes these 8 worksheets:

READ ME:
1. Oregon Pivot (default view shows $284 Million in HUD grant funding by city)
2. Oregon Data (source data for Worksheet 1)
3. U.S. Pivot (default view is $37.8 Billion in HUD grant funding by state)
4. U.S. Data (source data for Worksheet 3)
5. State Summary (Pasted in values showing ALL HUD Grant Funding by State WITH breakout of Recovery Act Funding and %)
6. PIVOT: Oregon Voucher + (Shows funding by PHA for several voucher related programs--NOTE that entry of PHA names with minor variations result in some PHA's having multiple row entries. You will need to sum those rows to get to some PHA totals)
7. Oregon Voucher + Data (source data for Worksheet 6)

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

CBPP Views on FY 09 HUD Appropriations.

Center for Budget and Policy Priorities full brief is HERE.
Summary below:

"The Omnibus provides a total of $41.5 billion in discretionary funding for HUD for 2009. This represents an increase of $2.2 billion (5.5 percent) over the 2008 funding level, once an adjustment is made for differing budgetary offsets used in the two laws.

A major concern is renewal funding for Housing Choice vouchers. As explained in the memo, the Omnibus does not appear to provide sufficient funding to renew all vouchers used by low-income families in 2008. Unless additional funds are made available to supplement the amount provided by the Omnibus, the program could serve tens of thousands fewer families in 2009 than in 2008, despite the fact that housing needs are growing dramatically due to the recession.

At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that, taken together, the Omnibus and the previously-passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 make significant investments towards preserving federal rental housing assistance for low-income families. Two areas are worth particular mention (and are discussed briefly in the memo). First, the funding provided by Congress in these two pieces of legislation should help to restore stability to the Section 8 project-based rental assistance program, which has experienced a funding crisis since 2007. Second, Congress has provided a large increase in capital funding for public housing, which, for the first time in many years, will allow agencies to begin to address the substantial backlog of capital of repair needs. (Nonetheless, public housing operating funding remains severely underfunded.)"

Thursday U.S. Housing Related Legislative Update:1 for 2.

The Senate punted, until next week, on the 2009 Omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 1105)

The House passed the revised bankruptcy bill (H.R. 1106)

Looks Like '09 Appropriations Bill Moving On Path to Passage.

N.Y. Times reports HERE that effort by McCain to cut earmarks and freeze spending to last years level in 2009 Omnibus appropriations bill was defeated in the Senate.

Unless some other procedural roadblock are out there, it appears that 09 spending bill is likely to be enacted by Friday, the day the prior continuing appropriations bill expires.

Omnibus FY 2009 bill is H.R. 1105, HERE.

A prior NLIHC summary of what's in the bill for HUD is HERE; it says HUD spending up by 10% compared to prior year [FY 2008].

Omnibus 09 Appropriations Bill.

Bill is being considered in House. Bill is H.R. 1105 and it's HERE. HUD section starts on page 1,026.