Much to the delight of states and members of Congress, the President signed into law the mammoth $200 billion Transportation Equity Act of the 21^st Century (also known as TEA-21) on June 9. The actual signing of TEA-21 was the perfect "photo-op" with more than 40 Senators and representatives joined the President as he penned into law legislation authorizing nearly $218 billion in spending for the nation's highways, bridges, and transit systems over the next six years. The amount of funding in this historic bill represents an increase of 40 percent above the previously enacted bill (ISTEA). Total spending authority rises from $29 billion annually in the first fiscal year (FY98) to nearly $40 billion by fiscal 2003. This contrasts with total spending authority under ISTEA to approximately $25 billion annually. To view a summary of TEA-21, access the Department of Transportation's web site at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov.
 

SENATE AND HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEES NEARING COMPLETION ON HUD/VA BILL

With VA-HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations legislation nearing completion in the both the House and Senate, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has received higher than expected budget levels from both houses. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $24.1 billion budget level for the agency on June 11, while the House VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $26.5 budget level for HUD on June 18. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark-up its bill on June 25. While most of the President's new initiatives within HUD were not approved, most of HUD's existing programs retained current funding levels, with some receiving increases.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $4.750 billion funding level for CDBG, while the House VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee approved $4.725 billion for the program, up from $25 million in FY 1998. Good news -- less set-asides were approved for CDBG: $375.8 million by the Senate and $326.8 million by the House.

The HOME program also received higher budget levels than in FY 1998, with the Senate Appropriations Committee recommending a funding level of $1.55 billion for the program and the House Subcommittee recommending $1.6 billion. Both the House and Senate rejected the Administration's proposal to integrate the Section 202 and Section 811 programs into HOME. Both the Senate Committee and the House Subcommittee rejected the Administration's proposed HOME Loan Guarantee Program. Both the House Subcommittee and Senate Committee restored funding for Section 202 and Section 811. The Senate Committee also recommended that up to 25% of the Section 811 funding be used for Section 8 assistance for the disabled. The Committee asked HUD to prepare a report on the unmet housing needs of the elderly and the physical condition of existing elderly housing.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended a funding level of one billion dollars for HUD's homeless assistance programs, up from $823 million in FY 1998. The House Subcommittee echoed the sentiment for increased funding for HUD's homeless programs by passing a $975 million allocation for the programs. The Senate included two authorizing provisions relating to HUD's homeless programs. As a means of targeting more resources towards permanent housing solutions, the Senate included a provision that would require grantees to use at least 30% of their allocation to fund permanent housing for the homeless. The second provision would require grantees to provide a 25% match on their allocation. The House Subcommittee did not include these provisions, and it is expected that the full House of Representatives will not include either provision in its final FY 1999 VA-HUD Appropriations Bill. The Senate Committee asked HUD to develop a report on the trends in the costs and activities associated with the homeless as well as an analysis of the success of the various strategies for a continuum of care.

Funding was approved for the President's welfare-to-work voucher initiative, although not nearly at the level recommended by the President (a total of 100,000 vouchers requested). The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $40 million funding level for the initiative. This equates to approximately 7,000 vouchers. The $40 million allocation would provide Section 8 vouchers to PHAs in the following demonstration sites: Los Angeles, Cleveland, Kansas City,MO, Charlotte,

Miami/Dade County, Prince Georges County, MD, New York City, and Anchorage. The House Subcommittee approved $100 million in funding for welfare-to-work vouchers. This equates to approximately 17,000 vouchers nationally.

Other items approved/rejected by the Senate Committee and Housing Subcommittee include the following:

• Both the House and Senate rejected the Administration's Regional Connections Initiative.



• Both the House and Senate discontinued the three-month delay on reissuing Section 8 vouchers.


• Both the House and Senate returned the $2.2 billion in Section 8 project reserves that had been previously rescinded to help fund the FY 1998 emergency supplemental bill.



• The Senate Committee recommended an increase in the FHA single-family loan limits to $227,150, the same limit proposed by the Administration. The House Subcommittee did not recommend an increase to the FHA limits.

* $80 Million in Lead-based Paint funds are not listed as a CDBG set-aside in the House report. It appears that the House wants these funds to be a separate program outside of CDBG, which is what the administration requested. The Senate specifically identified them as a set-aside of $60 million within CDBG.

^ Brownfields is a set-aside in CDBG in the House. The Senate funded Brownfields as a separate program outside of CDBG as the administration requested.

# SHOP is a program that requires authorization language before it can be considered a set-aside in CDBG.

HUD NOTICES

HUD Releases State of the Cities Report for 1998

HUD recently released its second annual report on the state of the cities. HUD's 1998 State of the Cities report outlines three basic findings in regards to the state of the cities: (1) Cities are financially and economically the strongest they've been in over a decade; (2) Even with economic gains, many cities have concentrated poverty, shrinking populations, and middle-class flight; and (3) Cities face gaps in jobs, education, and housing.

The report found that cities are improving as places in which to live, with increased homeownership rates and more employment opportunities. On the downside, poverty in many city neighborhoods is not decreasing, many middle-class families are leaving the cities for the suburbs, minority youth unemployment in cities is five times the national average, and households with severe housing problems are disproportionately found in central cities.

Mark-to-Market Regulations to be Released this Summer

HUD expects to release the interim regulations for its permanent mark-to-market (multifamily portfolio re-engineering) program in late July for comment (likely a 30-day comment period). HUD will then incorporate the comments into a final regulation to be released by the mandated date of October 1. HUD is also working on guidelines for its 1998 mark-to-market demonstration program and is expected to release those around the same time as interim regulations. To date, approximately 30 state and local housing finance agencies have shown interest in participating in the FY 1997 and FY 1998 demonstration programs, with most having signed contracts with HUD already.

IDIS UPDATE

For more information on the IDIS training schedule, please contact Tonya, Inc. at 202-289-8100.
 

NCDA NOTES

NCDA BIDS FAREWELL TO DIANNE TAYLOR

Since the late 1980's, Dianne E. Taylor has been involved with NCDA in some fashion-- either working for member community, working as a volunteer to the organization, employed as the CDBG staff person or as the Association's Director. Her presence and commitment to the organization and its mission has deep roots. On June 5, 1998, Dianne Taylor left NCDA to pursue other interests in Washington, DC. We wish her well in her future endeavors. She will most definitely be missed.
 

NCDA HIRES NEW STAFF

Carla R. Sauls began work for the Association on June 22,1998. She will work on a part-time basis and provide clerical and general office assistance to staff. Please welcome her!!
 

THE 1999 NATIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WEEK POSTER COMPETITION HAS BEEN EXTENDED

As the first step of this year-long effort, we invite NCDA's members to participate in the poster design competition. If you, or someone you know would like to submit a design for the 13^th annual celebration of National Community Development Week and the 25^th anniversary of the CDBG program campaign, please provide a color rendering of your poster concept to Chandra Western, no later than September 3, 1998. This deadline is hard and fast, as staff will be leaving Washington for Newport, Rhode Island for the Executive Symposium on September 9, 1998. For more information on the poster design competition, please contact Chandra Western at NCDA.
 

POSTING JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS

NCDA staff is ever willing to include position vacancies of member communities in the NCDA Washington Report. To better assist members as well as staff, we ask member communities to e-mail position vacancies to Michael Lightfield, michael@ncdaonline.org, whenever possible. If you are not set up for e-mail, please fax them to Karen. An electronic copy makes it easier to post the position on NCDAonline.
 

NCDA TECHNOLOGY NEWS

NCDA WEBSITE UPDATE!!! The overhaul of the NCDA Website is complete. NCDA members have logged on with their new passwords. On June 30, 1998, if members have not forwarded to NCDA a commitment form to pay dues, an expected date of payment of dues, or have paid dues, your permanent passwords will be deleted from the system and you will no longer have access until dues are paid. As we continue to improve the system, NCDAonline will provide more services and links to other sites and allow members to communicate more effectively with each other and NCDA staff. We are still investigating how we can provide members with membership discounts if they use the NCDAonline to receive NCDA mailings and publications. It will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for members to receive information and, allow them to make the information available to their entire staff. The Peer Assistance Line (PAL) is linked to NCDAonline, as are members' e-mail addresses. Members can e-mail directly from NCDAonline. It is a wonderful system and hopefully encourage more members to make use of the internet. The possibilities are endless. We encourage all members to get on line!

FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICES

FR 63, No.90, May 11, 1998, Pages 26022-26028. Nondiscrimination in Programs and Activities Receiving Assistance Under Title I of the Housing and Community Act of 1974. This proposed rule would establish procedures for filing complaints to claim discrimination under HUD's community planning and development programs. This rule is modeled on the Department's other nondiscriminatory regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability and those prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in federal programs. It will inform the public how to file complaints and how HUD will follow-up on complaints.

FR 63, No. 103, May 29, 1998, pages 29490-29493. Super NOFA Deadline Extended. The purpose of this notice is to extend the deadline for application on the fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and the Housing Counseling Program, that were part of the funding availability notice published on March 31, 1998.

FR 63, No. 104, June 1, 1998, pages 29908-29921. Final Rule Regarding Requirements for Hazard Education Before Renovation of Target Housing. This EPA rule requires certain persons who perform renovations of targeted housing for compensation to provide a lead hazard information pamphlet to owners and occupants of such housing prior to commencing the renovation, as stipulated by section 406 )b) of the Toxic Substance Control Act. In addition, this rule requires notification on the nature of the renovation activities in certain circumstances involving multi-family housing. The rule ensures that owners and occupants of target housing are provided information concerning potential hazards of lead-based paint exposure before certain renovations are begun on that housing. In addition to providing general information on the hazards associated with exposure to lead, the lead hazard information pamphlet advises owners and occupants to take appropriate precautions to avoid exposure to lead-contaminated dust and lead-based paint debris that are sometimes generated during renovations.

FR 63, No. 104, June 1, 1998, pages 29824-29826. Notice of Funding Availability for Community Planning and development, Public and Indian Housing, FHA, and Lead Hazard Control Programs. This notice announces the remaining a funding availability for FY 1998. The availability of approximately $188,465, 605 in HUD program funds covering seven programs in the following offices; CPD, FHEO, FHA, PIH and the Office of Lead Hazard Control.

FR 63, No. 104, June 1, 1998, pages 29860- 29864. Notice of Funds Availability for Family Self-sufficiency (FSS). This NOFA announces the availability of up to $25.2 million in FY 1998 funds for Section 8 Family Self-Sufficiency program coordinators. The Section 8 FSS program is intended to develop local strategies to coordinate the use of assistance under the Section 8 rental certificate and rental voucher programs with public and private resources to enable participating families to achieve economic independence and self-sufficiency. The application deadline in July 24, 1998.

FR 63, No. 104, June 1, 1998, pages 29852-29857. Notice of Funding for Availability for HOPE VI. This notice announces the availability of funding for FY 1998 for the demolition of obsolete and/or severely distressed public housing units without revitalization, HOPE VI Demolition. HOPE VI Demolition grants will fund demolition, minimal site restoration, and related relocation and administrative costs. Up to $60 million is available for this program.

FR 63, No 104, June 1, 1998, pages 29882-29891. Notice of Funding Availability for research to Improve the Evaluation and Control of Residential Lead-based Paint Hazards. This notice announces the availability of funding of up to $2 million for grants or cooperative agreements for research on specified topics related to the evaluation of residential lead-based paint hazards. Approximately 5 to 10 grants or cooperative agreements of approximately $100,000 to $600,000 each will be awarded on a competitive basis.

FR 63, No. 109, June 3, 1998, pages 30302-30355. EPA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Identification of Dangerous Levels of Lead. In accordance with Section 403 of the Toxic Substance Control Act, EPA is proposing a regulation to establish standards for lead-based paint hazards in most pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities. This proposed regulation is a focal point of the federal lead program and supports the implementation of regulations already promulgated and others under development which deal with worker training and certification, lead hazard evaluation and control in Federally-owned and Federally-assisted housing, and HUD grants to assist in lead hazard abatement. In addition, this action proposes residential lead dust clean-up levels and amendments to dust and soil sampling implementation requirements and amendments to state program authorization requirements. By supporting the implementation of the national lead program, this proposed regulation would help to prevent lead poisoning in children under the age of six years.

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