Whether funding for a future border wall is approved or not, the current shutdown of affordable housing programs: Rural Development (RD), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of Treasury, means limited inquiries and effectively prevents any loan/grant processing. Only “essential” employees can work and those numbers will decrease the longer Congress and the President fail to reach a Continuing Resolution on funding for 2019.
In the past retroactive funding has been implemented to cover the affected participants in programs such as RD’s Section 521 Rental Assistance, and HUD’s Section 8 payments. The Council for Affordable and Rural Housing advises CARH members to post notices alerting residents that their federal benefits may be impacted and to contact their senator here or local representative’s office here to urge them to restore funding.
A new agreement is only speculated to occur when the new Congress reconvenes on Jan. 3rd, 2019. While RD, HUD, and Treasury staff cannot return phone calls, CARH encourages any urgent matters to be documented by sending an email to appropriate staff and copying to the national CARH office.
A HUD link, RD link, and Treasury link, show their respective contingency plans for this period.
CARH advises closings to be rescheduled and that RD’s housing loans and grants will not be provided during this shutdown as announced by the USDA.
USDA leadership assures us that Section 521 Rental Assistance obligated funds will continue to be disbursed but nothing further will be processed. Critical deadlines with regard to FHA multifamily closings with Firm commitments will proceed as well as rent subsidy contracts.
