Audio, Day 2 of Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing on OHCS Budget.

I have posted audio HERE.

Written testimony, including mine, is HERE. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

My First Ever Written Testimony to Oregon Legislative Committee: For Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing Today on OHCS Budget.

The Ways and Means Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee hearing on the OHCS budget today includes the opportunity for public testimony.

Some background: 
The OHCS budget bill (HB 5015) shows a proposed General Fund biennium allocation of $7,760,573.

In the legislatively approved budget for FY 2011-2013 the OHCS General Fund biennium allocation was $10,018,855, with 22% of that allocated to non housing uses (food programs), leaving $7,845,788 for 3 housing programs (that serve the lowest income Oregonians):

• Statewide Homeless Assistance Program
• Emergency Housing Assistance Program
• Low-income rental assistance program

To help put the size of OHCS General Fund needs in perspective I submitted written testimony; this is the first time I have ever submitted testimony before an Oregon legislative committee.

A PDF with my testimony is HERE, and it and other written testimony are also posted HERE for the 1 PM Tuesday hearing.

The first of two graphs in my testimony is pasted below:

 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Audio: OHCS Budget Hearing, Day 1.

I have posted audio from budget presentation from OHCS Director Van Vliet is HERE.

Documents for that hearing are HERE.  

Public testimony will be heard tomorrow and posted HERE.


Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Correction: OR Governor Gets HUD Sec Letter Saying Sequestration Cuts Total Nearly $13 Million for Selected Programs, 1,900 Fewer Voucher Families Served.

Correction: In Excel file I inadvertently multiplied several cells by 1,000; formulas in those cells have now been corrected, all narrative in post remains accurate.

------
Letter is HERE. 

I extracted the table in the last page HERE and am embedding below.  

Note that reductions in public housing, CDBG, and project based rental assistance do not appear to be included in $13 million total, so when all is said and done, my prior estimate HERE of $15 million in lost HUD funding for Oregon seems to still be feasible, if not understated. 



Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon HUD Sequester Projections: 1,700 Fewer Voucher Families, Up to $15 Million Loss in Annual Funding.

CBPP Feb 14, 2013 report with state details for several HUD programs is HERE. 

Using CBPP data I prepared the Excel spreadsheet, HERE and embedded below, showing that Oregon would lose $5.6 million in funding for 5 programs PLUS nearly 1,700 voucher familes. 

I then went a bit further...IF the projected cut in voucher families is annualized at $6,000 per voucher I calculate this would mean an additional annualized loss of $10 million, for a total state loss of $15+ million in HUD funding.


 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Possible OHCS Budget Cuts At Different % Rates.

Agencies had to submit lists of possible cuts up to 10.5%. OHCS specifics included in document HERE on page 14.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Detailed Report on OHCS Approved Budget

Details about the Ways and Means Committee action on the OHCS budget for FY 2012-FY 2013 can be found HERE and it includes fund level details and new performance measures for OHCS. 

With the post budget approval news of the loss of the Section 8 contract administration starting in October the OHCS approved budget will need to make an adjustment to remove, on a prorated basis, the Section 8 rent subsidies and contract fees that are part of $145 million in an other fund budget category for this biennium. 

A comprehensive review of the history of this legislation is available from the Oregonian HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Day 1 Audio of Today's Oregon Ways and Means Committee Hearing on OHCS 2011-2013 Budget.

This morning, the Oregon Ways and Means Subcommittee On Transportation and Economic Development held a hearing on the OHCS budget for the upcoming biennium.  A second session is scheduled for tomorrow.

OHCS had previously posted the exhibits used for the hearing HERE. 

I was able to create a MP3 audio file from today's 1 hour and 32 minute session and have posted it to the Internet Archive HERE. 

You can stream the file from the web or download it; if you download it is modestly sized at 64 MB. 

I think this is the FIRST time that OHCS Ways and Means budget audio has been quickly posted for easy public access [session ended at 10 AM today]. 

With the posted OHCS budget materials and this audio this is one of the most comprehensive briefings on OHCS programs and funding sources you will find anywhere.  

IF scheduling permits I will try to record and post day two of the hearing scheduled for tomorrow.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Good Stuff Buried in HUD FY 2012 Detailed Congressional Justifications.

Be the life or your party! Amaze your friends! Or...if you have difficulty sleeping you can download HERE very detailed justifications by program area from HUD's FY 2012 proposed budget.( I count close to 50 separate justifications by programs and topics).

All kidding aside, there really IS a lot of detail buried in these reports; for example from the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly CJ HERE you will find these tidbits:

A. Graph below shows the rapidly growing annual costs of renewing existing PRAC /operating subsidy costs for existing Section 202 elderly projects, with annual renewal costs in FY 2012 projected at more than 5 TIMES the annual costs in FY 2007: 

Click to Enlarge

B. HUD plans shift in focus for 202 in the future

In fiscal year 2012, HUD proposes appropriations language changes to allow funds to be used for the newly authorized senior preservation rental assistance contracts to maintain affordability in older Section 202 developments originally financed with direct loans. Going forward, HUD will also continue to align new Section 202 developments with ongoing efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services and its state partners to better deliver services to frail elderly aging in place in the community. New Section 202 housing would increasingly serve Medicaid-eligible households receiving licensed care in the context of independent living and would increasingly be co-located with community-based health care facilities.In addition, HUD will be doing more with Section 202 program funds by prioritizing leveraging of other mainstream affordable housing funds rather than fully funding the full capital advance award amount and streamlining the operating subsidy structure to increase efficiency and leverage. HUD is also working to better ensure that Section 202 program funds are awarded to higher capacity sponsors who have projects that are lined up and ready to go. Taken together, these reforms will: 1) create and sustain more affordable units at a lower initial cost than in previous years; 2) streamline and modernize the program to reduce administrative processing and increase the likelihood of units successfully being completed under a shorter timeframe; and 3) ensure that new housing serves as a platform for elderly persons to age-in-place in the community

[Editorial comment: If HUD would just publish the damn LONG delayed NOFA for Section 202 that uses FY 2009 funds it might have a little more cred on the "shorter timeframe" goal]. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

President's Proposed FY 2012 Budget: HUD Outlays as Share of Total Federal Outlays Will be At Lowest % in Last 40 Years.

In beginning to dig into FY 2012 proposed budget details, I looked at an Excel spreadsheet HERE that shows the historical percentage of Federal outlays by agency.  (Outlays are better to focus on IMHO as they show one year obligations instead of multi year budget authority). 

The graph below illustrates the Excel data and shows how HUD's share of outlays has changed over the 1972-2016 (estimated) period, including the estimate for FY 2012. 

Notably, the projected 1.3% of total federal outlays for HUD in FY 2012 is:

1. Lower than it has ever been under any Republican President in the last 40 years,
2. In fact, the LOWEST it has ever been under any President in the last 40 years,
3. Is LOWER than the 2008 HUD share of outlays (1.6%) [which some Republicans say they want to revert back to]; that 1.6%  also happens to be the same share of federal outlays that HUD had in 1972.

Double Click to Enlarge

 Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD/Treasury Budget Materials-Several Preservation Items.

HUD has now published their summary of the FY 2012 proposed budget HERE. 

The Treasury summary of FY 2012 revenue proposals is HERE. (LIHTC provisions begin on PDF page 30).

Some excerpts and my comments on several housing preservation related proposals. 

...the budget includes $200 million for a demonstration and rigorous process evaluation of the conversion of up to 255,000 public housing units to long-term project-based rental assistance contracts. Public housing authorities will then be able to leverage private capital to make repairs. Through similar conversions, the demonstration will preserve 7,600 privately-owned, HUD-assisted units at risk of leaving the affordable housing stock [Comment: Unless the FY 2011 proposal has changed significantly in FY 2012, conversion of public housing units would provide priority to housing authorities who ONLY have public housing units--this excludes virtually ALL Oregon housing authorities.  A better alternative for Oregon would be to put this money back into CDBG or HOME program. )

The Department’s overall preservation agenda is complemented in the Department of Treasury’s budget for fiscal year 2012, which proposes two reforms to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) that will:
• Replace the current cap on household income at 60 percent of area median income with the option that properties serve households whose average income is no greater than 60 percent of AMI and with no individual household above 80 percent of AMI. These changes to the Code’s low-income occupancy threshold requirements will accomplish three things: (i) allow greater income-mixing at the project level, creating opportunities for workforce housing; (ii) help align LIHTC with HUD’s and USDA’s affordable housing programs (which define low-income at 80 percent of area median income); and (iii) lead to the creation of more units targeted to the lowest income households. It’s important to note that this income averaging proposal increase our ability to preserve
HUD-assisted properties. 69,224 households living in public housing and 23,271 households in multifamily housing have incomes above 60% of AMI. This proposal allows these units to be counted in basis, increasing the equity flowing to these projects for preservation. [ Comment: This does NOT directly benefit worst case housing needs that are concentrated with the lowest income rental households].
•Make the 4% credit a more viable source of funding for the preservation of the federal affordable housing stock by giving qualifying properties a 30% basis boost in the context of preserving, recapitalizing, and rehabilitating existing affordable housing, particularly public housing targeted by TRA (as well as Multifamily Housing, 236s, BMIRs, RAP,
Rent Sup, 202, 811, HOME, McKinney and CDBG funded units, USDA-RD (515s)). This means that a greater amount of equity could be raised per credit even at the higher yields required by investors for 4% investments, which in turn will generate more interest in LIHTC preservation deals within the investor and developer community. [Comment: This makes sense as long as affordable housing targeted IS limited to low income units].

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Two Additional Quick Hits on FY 2012 Budget Non HUD Housing Items.

A couple of NON HUD related housing proposals caught my eye within the FY 2012 Budget Federal Receipts document HERE (PDF page references included): 

p38
Simplify single-family housing mortgage bond targeting requirements.—Current law allows use of tax-exempt private activity bonds to finance qualified mortgages for single-family housing residences, subject to a number of targeting requirements, including, among others: (1) a mortgagor income limitation (generally not more than 115 percent of applicable median family income, increased to 140 percent of such income for certain targeted areas, and also increased for certain high-cost areas); (2) a purchase price limitation (generally not more than 90 percent of average area purchase prices, increased to 110 percent in targeted areas); (3) a refinancing limitation (generally only new mortgages for first-time home buyers are permitted); and (4) a targeted area availability requirement. The Administration proposes to simplify the targeting requirements for tax-exempt qualified mortgage bonds by repealing the purchase price limitation and the refinancing limitation.

P 107
Limit itemized deductions. The Administration is proposing to limit the tax rate at which high-income taxpayers can take itemized deductions to a maximum of 28 percent, affecting married taxpayers with incomes over $250,000 and singles over $200,000. This will reduce the value of tax expenditures for such deductions, which include mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charitable contributions.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

First Look at HUD FY 2012 Budget Proposal-Modest Cuts?

This is the first of several FY 2012 HUD budget postings.

In a document HERE, the Administration has identified discretionary programs it proposed to terminate or reduce funding for in its FY 2012 budget . For HUD, I count a reduction of $698 million for these terminations/reductions; the graphic includes details and also shows the PDF page number for each of the 7 reductions I have included. 

Click to Enlarge

NOTES

1. For FY 2011, the President's budget had proposed a HIGHER total of $965 million in HUD reductions--nearly $300 million more than what the FY 2012 budget appears to be proposing. 
2. The last enacted HUD budget (for FY 2010) was a substantial increase from prior years; the link HERE is to the NLIHC chart of HUD budgets that includes data on FY 2010, proposed FY 2011 (never enacted), and prior FY HUD appropriations. (I expect a new version of this chart that includes the FY 2012 proposed budget will appear later this week).  
3. As a further point of reference, some Republicans are calling for scaling back of domestic budgets to FY 2008 levels; for HUD that level would be $37.6 billion, according to the NLIHC chart. 

The "Cliffs Notes" version of the HUD FY 2012 Budget from the Administration is HERE, and includes more details on both budget authority and outlays for major HUD programs, including comparisons to prior year amounts.

In future posts as time permits I will provide links to more detailed "WONK" versions of HUD FY 2012 budget documents and analysis from other sources.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

OHCS Proposed FY 2011-13 Budget Out.

Complete proposed FY 2011-2013 state budget should open to OHCS section (page 99) HERE.

Analysis to follow at later date. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

A Modest HUD Budget Proposal: Limit Growth to No More than Growth in Mortgage Deduction and Property Taxes.

With the federal budget promising to be more contentious than ever it occurred to me that the HUD budget discussions might benefit from a benchmark to help evaluate any proposed increase or decrease.

Although hundreds of billions of additional federal dollars have been committed to home ownership via various bailouts (GSE's, TARP, passive loss tax breaks etc,) the mortgage interest and property tax deductions are the major ongoing federal expenditures for home ownership; they should therefore serve as a good long term benchmark to evaluate changes in the HUD budget (which primarily, but NOT exclusively focuses on rental assistance related costs).

Fortunately, the PEW Foundation has posted a new federal tax expenditure database. I was able to extract from it the projected costs of the mortgage interest and property tax deductions for 2011-2015 from two sources: the Joint Tax Committee and the Treasury Department.   

The table HERE presents the results of my analysis; some observations: 

1. In 2011 the combined cost of these tax deductions is estimated at $128 to $145 billion. 
2. In 2015 the cost of these tax deductions is estimated at $183 billion.
3. One year cost increases are estimated at 8.8% to 14.1%; 4 year cost increases are estimated at 42.9%.
4. One year cost increases are estimated between $12.7 and $18.1 billion;  4 year cost increases are estimated at $55 billion.     

Bottom line: One year growth restrictions in the 8-14% range for the HUD budget would keep it below the expected one year increase in federal costs for the mortgage interest and property tax deductions. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.
       

Brown's California Budget Proposes Phase Out of Local Redevelopment Agencies.

Details are found starting on page 2 of his Tax Relief and Local Government budget Chapter found HERE.  (All chapters for budget proposal can be found HERE).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

USA Spending Says Oregon Federal Housing Obligations for FY 2008-FY2010 YTD Were $1.25 Billion, But that is WAY Understated.

USASpending.gov now has canned reports showing "housing " spending for ALL federal agencies.  

Using USASpending.gov data I have pasted an Oregon table below with my summary by agency of federal housing spending for FY 2008, FY 2009, and FY 2010 YTD. (Tip: USASpending.gov allows you to construct customized reports for other geographies, time periods, and programs as well as by assistance type [grants, direct payments, contracts etc).

HUD accounted for $1.142 billion in obligations shown by USAspending.gov, or 89% of all housing obligations. Housing vouchers were the largest single program at $523 million, and the Housing Authority of Portland was the biggest single "housing" recipient in the state, with obligations totalling $250 million. 

[Link HERE is a summary of Oregon "housing" data for these three years from USASpending.gov].


FHA/VA Loan Guarantees Not Included, and Would Add $13 Billion to Total Oregon Federal Housing Spending.

While the $1.28 billion in obligations (all types) is impressive, in looking at the details I realized that FHA and VA loan guarantees do NOT appear to be included, and these have been record setting years for these programs. (It's Illogical from where I sit to exclude those programs),

Combined I estimate that those two programs likely would add another $13+ Billion over this time period to bring the SUBTOTAL to $14+ billion in federal housing obligations in Oregon for these three fiscal years (with several months still remaining in FY 2010).

More Federal Housing Spending that is NOT Included.

A.Federal tax expenditures for

• Mortgage interest, property tax deductions or the home buyer tax credit.(CBO estimated those at $127 Billion annually).
• Rental related programs like low income tax credit, accelerated depreciated etc (CBO estimated those at $12 Billion annually).
• 5 year loss carry back provisions, with first year estimated costs of $33 Billion. 

B. Any funding required for the bail out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, costs that have been estimated to be in the range of $500 billion-$1 Trillion. 

C. Any HAMP related funding and TARP funding for programs like the Hardest Hit program. 


USASpending.gov Housing Spending in Oregon, FY 2008-FY2010 (Partial):

Agency	2008	2009	2010	Grand Total
Grand Total	$  406,408,881	$  590,826,471	$  288,040,076	$  1,285,275,428
Department of Agriculture	$       13,839,980	$       24,204,766	$       16,766,145	$          54,810,891
Department of Commerce	$           299,998		$             30,014	$              330,012
Department of Defense	$        2,632,194	$       17,273,849	$           340,607	$          20,246,650
Department of Education	$             13,133	$             14,001		$                27,134
Department of Energy	$           466,505	$       43,075,535	$        2,222,843	$          45,764,883
Department of Health and Human Services	$        2,023,486	$        1,300,000	$        1,175,000	$           4,498,486
Department of Homeland Security	$        4,359,270	$           867,642	$           865,546	$           6,092,457
Department of Housing and Urban Development	$  378,483,697	$  500,524,764	$  263,678,534	$  1,142,686,995
Department of Justice	$        2,629,850	$        2,532,942	$        2,458,438	$           7,621,230
Department of State	$             54,401			$                54,401
Department of the Interior	$           500,219	$           180,594	$           138,569	$              819,381
Department of Transportation		$           731,686	$             (1,062)	$              730,624
Department of Veterans Affairs	$             48,904	$           105,896	$             11,100	$              165,900
General Services Administration	$        1,020,800	$             14,321		$           1,035,121
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	$             44,459			$                44,459
National Science Foundation			$           347,900	$              347,900
Small Business Administration	$             (8,015)	$                  475	$               6,443	$                (1,097)

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

FY 2011 HUD Budget Proposes $965 Million Termination/Reduction in Funding for Fair Housing, Non Profit Housing, and HOME programs

This is the first of several FY 2011 related federal budget postings.

In a document HERE, the Administration has identified discretionary programs it proposed to terminate or reduce funding for in its FY 2011 budget . For HUD, I count a reduction of $965 million for these terminations/reductions (all references are to PDF page numbers):

• $18 million termination of Brownfields Economic Development Initiative, pg 9
• $11 million reduction in Fair Housing Activities Program, pdf page 75,
• $175 Million reduction in HOME Program, page 79
• $551 million reduction in Section 202 Elderly non profit housing program, page 85
• $210 million reduction in Section 811, Housing for Persons with Disabilities non profit housing program, page 85.
• Other savings, streamline redundant housing inspections, page 119.

Despite these proposed reductions keep in mind that the overall HUD budget in FY 2010 was a substantial increase from prior years; the link HERE is to the NLIHC chart of HUD budgets that includes data on FY 2010 and prior HUD appropriations.

The "Cliffs Notes" version of the HUD FY 2011 Budget from the Administration is HERE, and includes more details on both budget authority and outlays for major HUD programs, including comparisons to FY 2010 amounts.

In future posts I will provide links to the "WONK" versions of HUD FY 2011 budget documents.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD's FY 2009 Performance and Accountability Report; One Table Shows Loss of 44K HUD Assisted Units from FY 06-09.

The FY 2009 HUD Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) was recently posted HERE on the HUD website. It's long but highly recommeneded.

As an example of the important details found in the report, HERE is a table I constructed from data in the report; table shows the loss of 44,000 HUD assisted units from FY 2006-FY 2009.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

NLIHC to Host Thursday Nov 5th Conference Call on New Funding Source for Housing Trust Fund.

Full NLIHC Action Alert information is HERE.
Call details pasted below, note call time is 10 AM our time (PDT).

Please join a national call with Sheila Crowley, NLIHC Executive Director, to learn about the latest developments affecting implementation of the National Housing Trust Fund.

Date: Thursday, November 5

Time: 1 PM (eastern), noon (central), 11 AM (mountain), 10 AM (pacific)

Call in Number: 1.877.486.3171

Pass code: 967187

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog