In an interview with U.S. News and World Reports on “The Future of Affordable Housing in the Trump Era,” Amy McClain, who leads Ballard Spahr’s government-assisted housing practice (and is a frequent Housing Plus blogger), cautions that while she doesn’t expect budget cuts to be as severe as those proposed, funding for affordable housing is under threat. Amy notes that the proposed cuts to public housing funds could undermine the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which allows a public housing project to convert its subsidy to long-term Section 8 assistance and leverage debt and equity in order to finance the project’s rehabilitation or replacement. The post-conversion rents for RAD projects are based on the amount of public housing operating and capital funds allocated to the project pre-conversion. As Amy notes in the article, “If the public housing operating subsidy and the public housing capital fund get diminished [in the budget], then the rents are no longer viable to convert to the Section 8 platform.” Amy also emphasizes the role that affordable housing proponents can play in the budget debate. “It’s going to come down to what the advocacy groups do and the level of education for members of Congress to make sure everyone is aware of the benefit of programs and the impact that the cuts would have,” she says.
Read more about the proposed cuts to HUD’s budget here.