House Financial Services subcommittee hears proposals to modernize HUD’s HOME program

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance convened a public hearing on a discussion draft to modernize the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, titled the Home Reform Act, with members and witnesses emphasizing the program’s role as gap financing for affordable housing and proposing changes to reduce delays and costs.

The HOME program, created in 1990 under the Cranston‑Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act, provides block grant funding to states and local jurisdictions to build and rehabilitate affordable housing. Chair Michael Flood (R‑chair, Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance) opened the hearing by stressing supply as the core problem: "We need to build more housing in this country and that's the only solution that will move the needle." Ranking Member Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D‑MO) and several members said the program requires reauthorization and more funding to meet current needs.

Why it matters: witnesses and members said HOME commonly fills financing gaps for projects layered with Low Income Housing Tax Credits and other funding; delays and overlapping federal requirements can make otherwise viable projects infeasible. Allison Leisenbee George, board president of the Council of State Community Development Agencies (CASDA) and director of the Colorado Division of Housing, said in Colorado HOME is often both "the first funding source in and the last piece that keeps a project together." She described a $2.6 million HOME award for Harvest Hill…