FY 1999 SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL - S. 544 

The Senate supplemental disaster relief bill, S. 544 which originally began at $1.4 billion has expanded to $1.9 billion. The House version which began at approximately $1.2 billion is now hovering at about $1.8 billion. Either bill will have difficulty getting a Presidential signature as currently drafted, because the of one simple reason - offsets. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart insisted that the requested $900 million for hurricane victims in Central America meets the "emergency spending test." Further saying, "This is aid that is needed immediately; it certainly couldn't be planned for and is non-recurring." Both houses want all of the funds for this spending measure to be offset with already appropriated funds. The big challenge is to find the money in programs that wont incur a veto. The Senate bill contains $977 million for Central America, $308 million in aid to American farmers, and $100 million in peace-keeping funds for Jordan. The Administration objects to the long list of GOP proposed offsets which include: $350 million from anti-poverty programs, $113 million from the Y2K initiative, $75 million taken from anti-terrorism programs at U.S. embassies, and $65 million from immigration and border patrol programs. Also objectionable to the Administration is the list of riders attached to the bill, among which are: measures that delay in environmental rule-making at hard-rock mining sites on federal lands, and stalling consideration of new methods of royalty collection from oil companies working under federal lease. The President has said that he will veto the bill if it includes offsets and riders. However, during the floor debate in both houses, we can count on rancorous debate on these two issues. Democrats are strongly supporting the President. We may not get floor votes until after the Easter/Passover recess, during the first full week in April. 

According to HUD officials, $314 million of the $350 million in anti-poverty programs offsets come from the CDBG program, the remaining comes from the food stamp program. These CDBG non-allocated funds are from two previous supplemental appropriations, FY 1997 and FY 1998. HUD says that these monies have not been allocated and will remain as disaster funds even if they are shifted to this new piece of legislation. There will be no new money. Cities, states and counties will see no decline in their formula allocations for fiscal years 1997 or 1998. 

HOUSE AND SENATE MARK-UP BUDGET RESOLUTIONS: SPENDING CAPS AN ISSUE 

The House and Senate have both been busy this week making sure their respective budget resolutions are marked-up in committee. The budget resolution creates a framework for the appropriations bills and tax laws to be written later in the year. With the year 2000 elections just around the corner, it also provides a spring board for politicians to hawk issues, such as preservation of Social Security and increased spending for defense and education. Both the House and Senate budget committees have committed to increasing spending for education and defense in FY 2000, keeping Social Security surpluses "off limits" for other uses, and cutting taxes over the next decade. 

Budget watchers have been waiting to see if either of the budget resolutions will propose an increase in the spending caps. Without an increase in the caps, Congress will have to decrease discretionary spending in FY 2000. So far, both the House and Senate budget committees have committed to keeping the spending caps intact and not increasing them in FY 2000. Without an increase in the spending caps, discretionary spending (which includes HUD's programs) will have to be cut drastically. Some estimates indicate that discretionary programs will be cut by $46 billion from current levels, if the caps are not increased to allow for greater spending in these program areas. President Clinton, Democrats, and some moderate Republicans are unlikely to go along with those kind of cuts. 

The Senate budget resolution calls for $778 billion in tax cuts over the next decade, increased spending for education and defense, reduction in the national debt, and preserving Social Security and Medicare. To help pay for some of these items, the proposal would shave an astounding $46 billion from non-defense discretionary spending in FY 2000. As suspected, the Senate's budget plan would place Social Security surpluses "off limits" for other uses, beginning in FY 2000. The plan proposes a $133 billion rainy day fund for Medicare to be paid from non-Social Security surpluses that are accumulated in the coming years. The Senate proposal calls for a $3.3 billion increase in elementary and secondary education spending next year and a total of $28 billion over 10 years. For defense, the plan assumes spending of about $290 billion in FY 2000. It also proposes an increase in spending on veterans programs by $1 billion, and an increase of $6 billion over five years for assistance to farmers. The Senate plan also calls for the repeal of Davis-Bacon wage rate. 

The House Budget Committee plan would provide approximately $800 billion in tax cuts over the next decade and increase defense spending by $290 billion in FY 2000. The proposal calls for a $2.3 billion increase for primary and secondary education. The plan also calls for states using their TANF funds for educational purposes, such as school construction and hiring additional teachers. Both the House and Senate plan to vote on their respective budget resolutions next week. 

HOUSE INTRODUCES HOMELESS CONSOLIDATION BILL 

Rep. Rick Lazio (R-NY) introduced H.R. 1073 -- The Homeless Housing Programs Consolidation and Flexibility Act -- on March 11, 1999. Rep. Lazio introduced a similar measure (H.R. 217) last year, but the Senate did not introduce a companion bill, so legislation to consolidate HUD's homeless assistance programs was not enacted last year. The consolidation of HUD's homeless assistance programs has been an issue for several years now. Currently, all of HUD's homeless programs, except the Emergency Shelter Grants Program, are awarded competitively annually. The cumbersome and time consuming application process for these programs and the process by which the funds are awarded by HUD have left many communities wanting the funds block granted. A block grant would assure that all jurisdictions receive some level of funding each year. Just how much depends upon how much is appropriated each year for the block grant. 

H.R. 1073 proposes to set-aside 30% of HUD's annual homelessness appropriations for a permanent housing development competition. Funds awarded through this competition could only be used for the development of permanent housing for the homeless. Eligible activities would include the construction, rehabilitation or acquisition of permanent housing structures and the capitalization of a dedicated project account from which long-term assistance payments (which may include operating costs or rental assistance) could be made. 

The remaining funds would be formula allocated to metropolitan cities, urban counties and states based on a 70/30 share, with metropolitan cities and urban counties receiving 70% and states receiving 30%. The funds would be allocated based upon the current CDBG formula. The bill requires HUD to submit suggestions for alternative formulas to Congress within a year of enactment of the legislation. Furthermore, the legislation calls for a graduated minimum allocation for grantees. The legislation requires that each grantee receive, in the first year after enactment of the bill, at least 90% of the average of the homeless assistance programs administered by HUD (not including allocations for shelter plus care and SRO programs) it received during fiscal years 1996 through 1999; not less than 85% in the second full fiscal year; 80% in the third and fourth year; and 75% in the fifth year, but only if the appropriated amounts exceeds $800,000. If not, then all of the funds would revert back to a national competition. The formula allocated block grant could be used to fund the acquisition and rehabilitation of supportive housing, new construction of supportive housing, leasing of supportive housing, operating costs for supportive housing, homelessness prevention activities (payment of rental payments, mortgage payments, utility payments), permanent housing development, emergency shelter, and supportive services that are connected to permanent housing or supportive housing for the homeless. 

The legislation requires a 50% match from grantees who do not use the value of donated services as a match resource and 100% match from grantees who use the value of donated services as a match resource. The legislation lists the following as possible sources of match for grantees: cash, the value of any donated or purchased material or building, the value of any lease on a building, the proceeds from bond financing, the amount of salary paid to staff, the cost or value of any donated goods, the value of taxes, fees, or other charges that are waived or foregone to assist in providing housing or services for the homeless, the cost of on-site and off-site infrastructure that is directly related to and necessary for providing housing or services for the homeless, and the cost or value of any donated services. 

H.R. 1073 allows grantees to use 5% of their allocation for administrative expenses. Grantee's can use 7.5% of their allocation for administrative expenses, if they implement a homeless database management system within their program. The legislation also requires each local government grantee to establish a local board to determine the administration of the funds, develop the application for the funding, oversee the activities carried out with the funding and prepare the annual performance report. 

The House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity expects to mark-up H.R. 1073 within the next two weeks. 

HUD SECRETARY ANDREW CUOMO CONSIDERS CDBG FORMULA CHANGE 

HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo told a group at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Leadership Meeting in Key West last month, that he is considering requesting an amendment to the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. This amendment (the CDBG statute) would allow all cities with populations of 30,000 and above entitlement status. Based on the number of new entitlement communities, the balance of state/entitlement formula would be changed to reflect the new number of entitlement cities without a "baseline change" to current entitlement allocations. Specifically, the formula would reflect the new calculation of entitlement communities and each state would receive its share based on the balance of cities that do not meet the 30,000 population threshold. It is not clear when or if HUD will pursue this initiative, however it is estimated that the new threshold would raise the number of entitlement communities by 300. 

There is also a consideration to change the formula allocation determining factors, such as percentage of deteriorated housing stock, growth lag, or the percentage of low- and- moderate income persons residing in the community. 

HUD NEWS

HUD RELEASES FY 1999 SUPERNOFA 

HUD released a massive $2.4 billion Notice of Funding Availability on February 26, 1999. This SuperNOFA encompasses programs from CPD, the Office of Fair Housing, the Office of Lead Hazard Control, and Public and Indian Housing. Applicants will still have to apply to each individual program for which they are interested. Contact the SuperNOFA Information Center at 1-800-HUD-8929 to receive applications kits. HUD will hold live broadcasts on each of the program areas. The following provides you with a list of those scheduled dates. Contact your local field office if you are interested in attending the broadcasts. We have also attached a list of the program funding available and due dates. 

Program	Date of Broadcast	Time of Broadcast
Continuum of Care	March 31, 1999	10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
HOPWA	March 31, 1999	1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Drug Elimination Programs -- PH Drug Elimination, TA, and Overview	April 1, 1999	10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Drug Elimination Programs -- Multifamily, New Approach	April 1, 1999	1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
HOPE VI Grants	April 6, 1999	1:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
University and College Programs	April 14, 1999	1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Follow-up Continuum of Care Broadcast	April 16, 1999	10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

HUD TO BEGIN WORK ON ANTI-PIRATING REGULATIONS 

As outlined in the Washington Report and at the Community Development and Economic Development Committee Meetings, HUD will be drafting a regulation to guide grantees on the implementation of Section 588, "Prohibition on Use of Assistance for Employment Relocation Activities" in HUD's FY 1999 appropriations bill. According to HUD officials, their intent is to write a regulation that is direct and unambiguous. Specifically, they want "direct assistance" to mean actual financial assistance to relocate. It is also believed that infrastructure improvements would not constitute direct financial assistance. HUD also wants to place time limits on types of assistance and remove any perception that could be interpreted as direct assistance. HUD is committed to using labor market figures to determine how the relocation of a business affects unemployment rates and to come up with a definition of "significantly affecting the unemployment rate." This is good news for CDBG grantees. NCDA has been in communication with HUD on this issue and will continue to provide input along the way. 

HUD OFFERS TRAINING 

HUD's Office of CPD will continue its training on CDBG, HOME, economic development, and relocation. The training sessions are free and will be conducted by ICF Kaiser. The following provides you with the schedule for the training through next spring. Space is limited, so register early. Contact your local HUD field office or ICF Kaiser at 703-934-3392 for further information. To register for the courses held in Boston, please send your name, city and telephone number to ruth_mckinnon@hud.gov or contact her directly at 617-565-5348. 
 

CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS FOR NCDA'S 1999 ANNUAL CONFERENCE 

Attached to this memo is a one-page form asking you to help us make the 1999 Annual Conference your conference. Please take one minute to let us know how you feel about agenda items, session topics, Committee Meetings, and the like. We want to make your trip to Washington as worthwhile as possible. What are your thoughts? Fax us, e-mail us, or call us at 202-293-7587. Any of the staff can take your suggestions.

CDBG 25th ANNIVERSARY/NATIONAL CD WEEK PRODUCTS INFORMATION NATIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WEEK IS:   March 29--April 4, 1999   Attached to the Washington Report is an updated flyer on the products available to assist communities with their celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the CDBG program. Please note that BASEBALL CAPS AND 25TH ANNIVERSARY LOGO STICKERS ARE NOW AVAILABLE for purchase. Baseball caps are $10 each and a roll of 1,000 stickers is $100.  GET YOUR ORDERS IN NOW!!!!

Products are going fast. We have had to re-order post cards. Posters are also rapidly depleting. If you are still considering posters and post cards, please get your orders in soon. T-shirts, hats, mugs, sweat-shirts, tote-bags and puzzles are still available, however, if you have not already ordered these items, you will not get them before CD Week. But, these products can still be purchased. It will take approximately 10 days to receive products. 

PLEASE SEND US YOUR CD WEEK/CDBG 25th ANNIVERSARY ACTION PLANS 

We have been asked by HUD to help them make decisions on getting personnel to your events. If you have already made plans, please let NCDA staff know and perhaps we can facilitate a key HUD speaker at your event. 

NCDA TECHNOLOGY NEWS 

NCDAonline UPDATE!!! If you have not logged on to NCDAonline.org with your permanent passwords, you will not be able to log on to the member only section of the website. Please contact Chandra Western at NCDA or  e-mail her at chandra@ncdaonline.org. She will provide you with the information necessary to get into the "Members Only" section as well as how to personalize and make permanent your passwords and user ID. NCDA staff have discovered that members are not personalizing their passwords, they continue to use the temporary passwords to get to the members only section.  PLEASE CONTACT Chandra Western TO LEARN HOW TO GET YOUR PERMANENT PASSWORDS.  In response to your requests NCDAonline.org has been enhanced. As part of these ongoing enhance- ments, we will eventually discontinue the PAL system. We hope you will let us know what you think of the improvements and offer suggestions for further enhancements.  There is also some confusion on entering in e-mail addresses directly online. Once you are in the members only section, click on the appropriate e-mail link and type in your name in the "subject" area. In the e-mail message area, type in "subscribe memberlist" and your e-mail address. Don't forget to put a space between memberlist and your e-mail address. This should get you on the listserv.

NCDA ASKS MEMBERS FOR HOME PROGRAM TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE NEEDS 

In an effort to better serve its membership, NCDA has prepared a one-page survey on the HOME program. The survey is intended to gather feedback from members on their HOME TA needs and administration of the HOME program. If you administer the HOME program, please complete the survey and return it to Vicki Watson by April 15, 1999. 

FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICES 

March 11, 1999. Questions and Answers Regarding the Affordable Housing Program. The Federal Housing Finance Board is publishing Questions and Answers Regarding the Affordable Housing Program. The Questions and Answers have been prepared in response to questions about changes in the Finance Board's regulation governing the AHP that went into effect on January 1, 1998, as amended by an interim final rule effective June 19, 1998. 

March 10, 1999. FY 1999 Notice of Funding Availability; Secondary Market for Non-Conforming Loans to Low-Wealth Borrowers Demonstration Program. This NOFA announces the availability of $10 million in funding for grants to qualified nonprofit organizations to demonstrate methods of expanding the secondary market for non-conforming home mortgage loans to low-wealth borrowers. The NOFA is issued under the HOME Investment Partnerships Program. The purpose of the demonstration program is to enhance homeownership opportunities for low-wealth borrowers by enabling nonprofit intermediaries to purchase non-conforming home loans from conventional lenders, document the performance of these pools of affordable mortgages, and thereby encourage the secondary market and institutional investors to expand purchases of, or investments in, loans made to low-income home buyers. The goal of the demonstration is to expand the secondary market by ensuring that non-conforming loans have a receptive and dependable outlet. 

March 8, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability for the Welfare-to-Work Section 8 Tenant-Based Assistance Program Set-Aside Sites for FY 1999. The FY 1999 VA/HUD appropriations Act provided $4 million each to the following cities for welfare-to-work vouchers: San Bernardino County, CA; Cleveland, OH; Kansas City, MO; Charlotte, NC; Miami/Dade County, FL; Prince Georges County, MD; New York City, NY; and Anchorage, AK. This notice announces the availability of this funding for these jurisdictions and also announces that housing agencies currently administering Section 8 rental certificate and voucher programs in these jurisdictions are eligible to apply for this funding by May 7, 1999. 

March 8, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability; Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program. This NOFA announces the availability of approximately $32 million to fund Section 8 Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program coordinators. The Section 8 FSS program is intended to promote the development of 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. An FSS program coordinator assures that program participants are linked to the supportive services they need to achieve self-sufficiency. 

March 8, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability; Mainstream Housing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, (Mainstream Program) Fiscal Year 1999. The purpose of this program is to provide Section 8 rental vouchers to enable persons with disabilities (elderly and non-elderly) to rent affordable private housing. Approximately $48.5 million in five-year budget authority for approximately 1,600 rental vouchers is available under this NOFA. This funding will be used to fund new FY 1999 Section 811 program applications submitted in response to this NOFA by PHAs and non-profit disability organizations. PHAs with unfunded FY 1998 Main-stream Program applications will need to submit a new application, in accordance with this NOFA. 

March 8, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability; Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities Related to Certain Types of Section 8. The purpose of this program is to provide Section 8 rental vouchers to non-elderly disabled families who are not currently receiving housing assistance in certain Section 8 project-based developments due to the owners establishing preferences for the admission of elderly families, or in certain types of section 202, section 221(d)(3), or section 236 developments where the owners are restricting occupancy in the developments (or portions thereof) to elderly families. This NOFA provides approximately $20 million in one-year budget authority for approximately 4,200 Section 8 rental vouchers. The application deadline for public housing agencies to apply for this funding is June 30, 1999. 

March 8, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability; Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities in Support of Designated Housing Plans. The purpose of the rental voucher funding being made available under this NOFA is to enable non-elderly families with disabilities to rent affordable private housing. The rental vouchers will assist public housing agencies in providing sufficient alternative resources to meet the housing needs of those non-elderly disabled families who would have been housed by the PHA if occupancy in a designated public housing project/building (or portion thereof) were not restricted to elderly households, and assist PHAs who wish to continue to designate their building as "mixed elderly and disabled buildings" but can demonstrate a need for alternative resources for non-elderly disabled families. Approximately $20 million in one-year budget authority for approximately 4,200 Section 8 rental vouchers is available. The application deadline for public housing agencies to apply for this funding is June 30, 1999. 

March 8, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability for the HUD Rural Housing and Economic Development Program for Fiscal Year 1999. The purpose of the Rural Housing and Economic Development program is to build capacity at the State and local level for rural housing and economic development and to support innovative housing and economic development activities in rural areas. The funds made available under this program will be awarded competitively, through a selection process conducted by HUD in consultation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Approximately $27 million is available to local rural non-profit organizations, community development corporations, Indian tribes, State housing finance agencies, and State economic development or community development agencies. The application deadline is April 30, 1999. 

March 5, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability; Family Unification Program, Fiscal Year 1999. The purpose of the Family Unification Program is to promote family unification by providing housing assistance to families for whom the lack of adequate housing is a primary factor in the separation, or the threat of imminent separation, of children from their families. Approximately $75 million in one-year budget authority is available through this NOFA to support approximately 11,200 Section 8 rental vouchers. Applications that were not funded in 1998 will be funded first. After funding these applications, approximately $28.2 million to fund approximately 4,200 units will be available in FY 1999 for new applications for the Family Unification Program. The application deadline for public housing agencies to apply for this funding is May 28, 1999. 

March 5, 1999. Notice of Funding Availability for Service Coordinators in Multifamily Housing. This NOFA announces the FY 1999 funding available for the Service Coordinator Program in multifamily housing. The purpose of the Service Coordinator Program is to allow multifamily housing owners to assist elderly residents and residents with disabilities to obtain needed supportive services from the community, in order to enable them to continue living as independently as possible in their apartments. This NOFA announces the availability of approximately $5 million. Only owners of eligible developments may apply for and become the recipient of grant funds. The application deadline is July 15, 1999. 

Notice of Membership Changes

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