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The HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) is a type of United States federal assistance that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides to states to create decent and affordable housing, particularly housing for low and very low income Americans.[1] It is the largest Federal block grant to states and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income families, providing approximately US$2 billion each year.[2]
The program is commonly referred to as the Home Investment or Home Partnership Program, and is often operating in conjunction with other housing and other urban development programs, such as the CDBG program. Its federal identification number, or CFDA number, is 14.239.[1]
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HOME is a Catalyst for Change - HUD
Transcription
I would love to share some stories about this. There was still a community here in the Galesville community. That was living...we actually had units without indoor plumbing or running water. I know that's amazing to think of but there was actually 16 rental units. We had to bring all the water we need, heat all the water for bathing and that's how we got through that kind of living. Outdoor, you know, houses. Well you know what Trolley Square was don't you? It was actually the place where all the trolleys came back to roost. So, not the most attractive site you know and it's in the middle of a very busy commercial area. I came from a broken house, I divorced my husband and I don't have any place to live and then I have two children. I have two daugthers, one is 25 and one is 23. my 25 year old daugther just moved out so my younger daughter 23 who has a disability is the one that is with me now. And I leave my house due to domestic violence. At that time there was really no priority as to what kind of housing you could get so I was in townhouse which obviously wasn't the best housing for someone who is a wheelchair user. With the King Lincoln District and 21st Street in particular both had significant pockets of disinvestment and blight. A lot it being properties, properties that were in disrepair, home owners who felt like no one cared. So it was an area that needed a shot in the arm. There were a lot of boarded up homes, a lot of empty lots. If you go a couple streets over, you have felt really unsafe. Approximately, 10 or so years ago we began a strategy on how to revitalize what was once a very vibrant downtown. There were four of us in a two bedroom and it just got too much so we moved to a four bedroom house in South Ontario and I got laid off. We had the very unique situation of a Navajo nation and they have some dismal statistics. So its been very difficult to be able to produce something of great value there. Up to 20 years ago, literally half the housing units didn't even have sewer systems going to it. 15 percent of them didn't have any kind of running water going to them. In fact, a third of the houses currently don't even have bedrooms. While we used to live on somebody else's farm and we had no running water, no electricity for like seven years. I can tell that everybody that has come here to live has gone through a crisis n their life because homelessness is a crisis. I have a long history of being homeless and being in and out of shelters. In and out of a lot of winter time programs that close off at the Spring so you're on the streets again. Shelter living, I feel personally is not for any one human being whether it be a male, female, children and it's actually, you know quite devasating. The area around this neighborhood was completely encircled by privately owned rental housing that was pretty dilapilated. It was home to a lot of drug dealers to a lot of transiet people, a lot of vacancies, a lot of activity that made life much harder for people in Morningside homes. It was not, not good at all. I know there was a lot of drugs and violence. I live with my daugther, things happened like life and she left her job. I lost my job, she went to school, eventually I wound up here. We worked with the community to help them bring in, help pay for the water and sewer and then brought together five or six different sources of funding, HOME being one of those very important sources at that time. HOME projects like Trolley are so important because they create opportunity for the average working person to have a place to live in a very high quality neighborhood. Begining in the Fall of 2004 we began to work on indvidual projects, site by site along the 21st coridor between Long Street and Mount Vernon with HOME funds. In total, this project resulted in over $91 million being invested into downtown. We have right now almost 100 families living and working in an area that there was no opportunity before. We have a really strong partnership with the city that invests local dollars and HOME dollars. with the housing came low income housing tax credits plus with money at the State level. And what we've done in the HOME program has helped us. We've been able to get individual units throughout the county so that folks who have these special needs can address the needs, can get the help they need, that they are living in the larger community. My life has changed, I am so happy and so content. When you turn the water on, we got hot water. We turn the water on, we've got water period. And you know, everyone did the condominums and the grudges. I mean that's what's beautiful about the place. it's just a nice place to come home to, you know. This area is for me, I don't know how many years I have to live here but i am the happiest person and even my children. Living here has been amazing, I'm proud to be a home owner. I'm so proud to have found this community where I can actually feel a part of it and it a part of me. In a home is security. I can live and know that my neighbors who also own their home will take pride and look after my home when I'm away and the relationship is vice versa. In a good place to raise my grand-daugther and my youngest son. It's good, I like it. And for myself also. We have our family gathering, we could...we laugh, we watch movies. Sometimes my grand-daughter will come and spend the night with me and I say to her, now this is your bedroom. It's a lot healthier. My mental health is so much better than it was back then. It's just, I have a place that I can call my own. This is where I wanted to be, this is what I wanted to do and once I got here, this is it. I'm not going anywhere. I love it here. With that being said, HOME is truly a catalyst for change. HOME is a catalyst for change. HOME HOME HOME is a catalyst for change For change HOME is a catalyst for change for all of us
Benefits provided
The government designed and implemented the HOME program to increase the amount of affordable housing for U.S citizens, especially those below the national and state poverty guidelines. The program has four main objectives:[1]
- Expand the supply of decent and affordable housing in the U.S.
- Strength the ability of state and local governments to design and implement strategies for achieving adequate supplies of decent, affordable housing
- Provide financial and technical assistance to state and local governments to develop affordable low-income housing
- Extend and strengthen partnerships among all levels of government (local and federal) and the private sector (both for-profit and non-profit organizations) in the production and operation of affordable housing
HOME funds can enable a broad range of eligible activities that provide affordable housing. Nevertheless, HUD specifies eligible activities that all governments can perform to achieve program objectives:[2]
- Home purchase or rehabilitation financing assistance – In this type of activity, the HOME program may provide a down payment for the purchase of a housing unit to a financial institution, thereby reducing the monthly mortgage payment of the loan balance for a low-income family that otherwise could not afford the monthly payment. The down payment can help fund new housing or the rehabilitation of a family's existing housing.[2]
- Building or rehabilitation of housing for rent or ownership – In this type of activity, HOME funds may fund the building of housing units that the government provides to low-income families. The families either pay a monthly rent or may purchase the housing unit for an affordable price.[2]
- Site acquisition or improvement – In this type of activity, HOME funds purchase property that is later developed as affordable housing. This activity also covers the improvement and rehabilitation of current affordable housing.[2]
- Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) – In this type of activity, governments provide funds to non-profit organizations that provide housing to impoverished or low-income families, including building housing projects similar to public housing projects, housing for the homeless, and developing affordable housing communities, among others.[2]
Among these eligible activities, HUD specifies that governments can use funds to carry out "...other reasonable and necessary expenses related to the development of non-luxury housing."[2]
The final recipients, otherwise known as beneficiaries (e.g. citizens), must be, for the most part, low-income families. HUD has designed a general formula for which all governments must comply with when providing HOME funds to citizens, which is that the incomes of families receiving HOME assistance or funds in a specific area (city, county, etc.) must not exceed 80 percent of the area's family income median or average.[2] In other words, if say HUD determines that a local area's median income is $25,000, then the HOME funds awarded in that area should only benefit those families with incomes less than, or equal to, 80% of $25,000 (or $20,000). HUD publishes the area median incomes plus the 80% income limits every year in its website.
Administration
The program is conducted by non-federal US governmental jurisdictions, such as states, cities, urban counties, and so forth, that receive an allocation of federal benefits from HUD. All U.S. states are automatically eligible for HOME funds, and each receives a minimum of $3 million for the program, while local governments receive a minimum of $500,000 (unless the United States Congress assigns $1.5 billion or less to the program, in which case they receive a minimum of $335,000).[2] However, federal regulations require that every single government that receives funds must provide 25 cents on their own for every HOME dollar used.[2]
If for example a state plans to use $1 million of HOME funds during the year, HUD provides $750,000 (75%) and the State must provide $250,000 (25%) for the program to achieve the $1 million goal. This compliance requirement is known as "matching." States can achieve this by either donating non-federal cash (e.g., cash from operations—not from other federal programs), donating materials and labor, donating land or buildings, or donating any similar resources that help achieve the affordable housing goal. However, HUD may exclude certain areas from this requirement or reduce the percentage if the area suffered a presidentially-declared disaster.[2]
In addition to the matching requirement, HUD has earmarking requirements that governments must follow. This compliance requirement obliges state and local governments to set aside 15% of program funds awarded for providing to CHDOs (see above) and sets a limit equal to 10% of program funds awarded for administration and planning expenses (e.g., recipients must use not less than 90% of total funds for actual assistance, including the 15% for CHDOs).[1][2]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d HOME Investment Partnerships Program (CFDA 14.239); OMB Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement Archived 2009-06-21 at the Wayback Machine; Part 4: Agency Program Requirements: Department of Housing and Urban Development, pg. 4-14.239-1
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l HOME Investment Partnerships Program Archived 2011-11-24 at the Wayback Machine, Homes and Communities: Community Planning and Development, US Department of Housing and Urban Development
External links
- HOME Investment Partnerships Program website
- US Department of Housing and Development website
- Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act as amended (PDF/details) in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
This page was last edited on 24 June 2023, at 22:53