HUD Awards New Funding to Expand Housing Supply and Choice
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded two types of funding intended to expand supply of and access to housing:
- $85 million in grant funding for the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) Program to identify and remove barriers to affordable housing production and preservation, and lower housing costs
- $1.5 million in Housing Mobility-Related Services Planning grants to help families using Housing Choice Vouchers find and choose housing in better-resourced opportunity neighborhoods
The PRO Housing grants were announced by Vice President Kamala Harris and will be awarded to more than 20 communities actively taking steps and demonstrating progress toward addressing the primary cause of homelessness: the shortage of affordable housing. Grantees will update state and local housing plans, revise land-use policies, and streamline the permitting process for housing construction to preserve existing affordable housing units, provide development subsidies to create new affordable units, and increase access to homeownership. Later this year, HUD will release an additional $100 million for round two of the competition. The president also included an additional $100 million for this program in his FY 25 budget. Read the full announcement.
The Housing Mobility-Related Services Planning grants were awarded to 25 public housing agencies across 14 states to implement programs that help families using vouchers overcome barriers to lower poverty neighborhoods. Common barriers include: the inability to save enough money for a security deposit, inadequate time to find a unit, and landlord unwillingness to rent to voucher holders. Research shows that growing up in neighborhoods with lower poverty levels improves children's health, academic achievement, long-term success, and reduces intergenerational poverty. Read the full announcement.