0. Data & Dollars: Housing Assistance Funding Trends and Outlook
Alicia Mazzara
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

1. Historical Context: 20 Years of Federal Disinvestment in Housing Assistance
Note: GDP= gross domestic product. Housing assistance includes Section 8, public housing, homeless assistance, Section 521, HOME, Native American Housing, HOPWA, and Section 202 and 811 programs, as well as many smaller programs.
Source: Office of Management and Budget

2. Budget Control Act of 2011 Imposed Caps on Discretionary Spending
Source: Office of Management and Budget

3. Public Housing and Block Grants Have Seen Deepest Funding Cuts
Update with new data from Doug’s CHCDF webinar
Note: “Housing for elderly/disabled” refers to the Section 202 and 811 programs. Rural rental assistance refers to the Section 521 program.
Source: CBPP calculations using Congressional Budget Office data

4. Budget Caps Could Drive Housing Assistance to Lowest Level in 40 Years
Note: Budget caps = annual caps on discretionary spending under the 2011 Budget Control Act. GDP = gross domestic product. Red line is CBPP projection, assuming housing assistance share of non-defense discretionary funding remains constant.
Source: Office of Management and Budget

5. Trump Budget Proposes Cutting HUD Programs by $7.4B (15%) from 2017
Vouchers Cut
Public Housing Funding Cut
CDBG
Funding Cut
HOME
-250,000
-$1.8 billion
-$3 billion
-$950 million
Note: Funding cuts are relative to estimated 2017 funding levels; housing voucher cuts are relative to the number of households assisted in 2016, with adjustments. National figures include data from U.S. territories.
Source: CBPP analysis of HUD and Office of Management and Budget data.

6. Trump Budget Eliminates HOME and Community Development Block Grants
Source: Department of Housing and Urban Development

7. Major Sources of Rental Assistance by Community Type
Note: Exurban areas are located outside a city, beyond the suburbs but not rural.
Source: CBPP tabulations of 2016 Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative data, 2016 Department of Agriculture Multifamily Housing Rural Development data, and Housing Assistance Council geographic classifications by Census tract.

8. Non-Defense Discretionary Spending Still Subject to Budget Caps
Note: Reflects sequestration relief provided by the Bipartisan Budget Acts of 2013 and All amounts exclude funding for disasters, emergencies, program integrity, and Overseas Contingency Operations.
Source: CBPP analysis of data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget.

10. Utility Reimbursement Example
Family A:
Parent with 2 children, paying their own utilities
Family B:
Parent with 2 children, utilities included in their rent
Monthly income: $250
Utility allowance: $120
Total tenant payment: $51
Utility costs: $120
Utility reimbursement: $69
Monthly income: $250
Utility allowance: $120 
Total tenant payment: $51
Utility costs: $0
Utility reimbursement: $0