President Donald Trump’s official budget proposal for the fiscal year 2018 had been released. The proposed budget included a reduction in the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spendings, according to HousingWire.
The budget will have a 13.2 percent decrease, from $ 46.9 billion in 2017 to $ 40.7 billion. The cut will include reforms in the department’s rental assistance program. It will remove programs that did not demonstrate significant and measurable impact in the communities. The HUD’s internal operations will also be systematized.
HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will be strengthened in this proposed budget. Particularly, this program is the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), FHA’s reverse mortgage program. There is also a plan for the modernization of the FHA’s operations and programming language, with a budget set at $ 30 million.
Programs to Undergo Reform
The programs that will undergo reform under the president’s 2018 plans will include:
- Rental Assistance Demonstration
- Housing Choice Voucher
- Housing for the Elderly
- Housing for Persons with Disability
- Public Housing Capital Funds
- Project-based Rental Assistance
Programs to be Eliminated
There are also several programs which will be eliminated. These are the:
- Community Development Block Grant Program
- Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program
- HOME Investment Partnerships Program
- Choice Neighborhood Initiative
These said programs are to be removed for the reason that they didn’t show a quantifiable impact and importance in American communities. Those that are suggested to go through reforms are seen as valuable programs. Thus, there is a need to further improve them in order for it to serve more citizens better.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson said, “This budget reflects this administration’s commitment to fiscal responsibility while continuing HUD’s core support of our most vulnerable households.”
This proposed budget cut reflected on the administration’s 2018 blueprint, America First, is still not final. It is the Congress’ responsibility to drafting and implement the national budget for the fiscal year 2018. The Congress will have to examine this proposal by the president, something that it can consider or reject.
