HUD Briefing Gives New Details on American Jobs Plan
Secretary Fudge and HUD Senior Advisors led a briefing on Monday June 21st to update housing advocates on details of the American Jobs Plan (AJP), and urge continued support across advocacy networks. In the briefing, she called the AJP a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to address decades of disinvestment in moderate and low-income housing, and its $40 billion Capital Fund investment “the biggest down payment we will make,” while simultaneously acknowledging that the $40 billion did not go far enough. The HUD team emphasized the importance of redeveloping and preserving public housing units to the administration’s dual goals of racial equity and reducing the environmental footprint of public housing.
HUD Senior Advisor Peggy Bailey also gave a more detailed breakdown of the proposed $40 billion for the Capital Fund:
$27 billion: Major Rehabilitation, Modernization, and Redevelopment
- Leveraging capital through Capital Fund, mixed finance, and RAD
- Build new units up to Faircloth
- Includes RAD rent boost ($1 billion), tenant-protection vouchers ($500 million), expanding the scale of Choice Neighborhoods ($2 billion)
$13 billion: Immediate Health/Safety Needs and Environmental Impact of Public Housing
- $6 billion to Public Housing Authorities with public housing for immediate needs and renovations – capital grants by formula
- $7 billion for health, safety, and climate needs – competitive grants
Other updates include:
- PHAs will be eligible to apply (with local government concurrence) to the Main Street Revitalization Program, which will be increasing its funding to $500 million
- $2 billion for Project-Based Rental Assistance (including admin fees)
There will be a future briefing with more detail on the breakdown of the $40 billion for public housing, but the date and time have not yet been announced.
President Biden and HUD have indicated that they will continue to push for the housing provisions of the American Jobs Plan outside of the infrastructure negotiations with Congress.