Enterprise: Community Developments: Administration and Congressional Leaders Moving Towards Finalizing Two-Year Budget Agreement

• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced earlier today that the Administration and Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on overall spending levels for fiscal years (FY) 2020 and 2021. The two-year budget deal would raise Congress' spending caps and debt ceiling. The negotiations are now focused on discussing spending offsets, which are other spending cuts and revenue raises that would be included in the budget deal. Secretary Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) have been working to reach an agreement in advance of Congress' August recess. (Politico, July 18) Enterprise supports increasing the budget caps and urges lawmakers to provide robust funding for affordable housing and community development programs. Stay tuned to our blog and newsletters for updates on FY 2020 appropriations and budget negotiations.

• The Brookings Institution has published a blog post titled “Tackling zoning to help the middle class: 5 policy approaches”. It highlights strategies discussed by experts who participated in a May 8 panel discussion on finding a road to better land use regulation, which featured Enterprise's Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Senior Advisor on Resilience Marion McFadden. These strategies include being thoughtful about investments to protect existing residents and urging the federal government to elevate and encourage beneficial housing and land use policy. McFadden noted that “part of the federal government's power is to lift up what's actually working and nudge other communities to emulate that [successful policies].” (Brookings Institution, July 17)

• HUD has announced $4.8 4.8 million in funding to “assist disabled veterans with modifying or rehabilitating their homes, making them more accessible.” Awarded through HUD's Veterans Housing Rehabilitation and Modification Pilot (VHRMP) program, this funding opportunity will enable five grantees to make necessary physical modifications to address the adaptiousing needs of eligible veterans, including wheelchair ramps and widening exterior and interior doors. (HUD, July 18)

• New data from the Department of Commerce show that U.S. housing starts in June dropped 0.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.253 million and building permits fell 6.1 percent to 1.22 million. Single-family homebuilding increased 3.5 percent to 847,000 units, but multi-family housing starts dropped 9.2 percent to 406,000 units. Permits to build single-family homes rose 0.4 percent to 813,000 units and permits to construct multi-family development plunged 16.8 percent to 407,000 units. (CNBC | Reuters, July 17)

Courtesy of Enterprise