HUD” Doubtful” to Receive Budget Recommendations from Biden, Lawmakers Inform Secretary Fudge

Marcia Fudge, the secretary of housing and urban development, defended President Joe Biden’s’s 2024 budget requests for the organization in a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee on April 18.

HUD will receive$ 73.3 billion from Biden’s’s budget proposal, which is roughly$ 1.1 billion more than the funding level in 2023. Additionally, the proposal calls for$ 104 billion over the course of ten years for” new mandatory affordable housing investments ,” according to Fudge.

Fudge, a Democrat who represented Ohio in the U.S. Congress from 2008 to 2021, stated that this combination of revenue and tax credits aims to address the country’s’s housing affordability crisis by making’ legendary investments’ in lowering construction costs.

There would be significant repercussions if HUD had to use on a continuing quality rather than the requested budget, she said.

Rep. Tom Cole( R-Okla. ) is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development in addition to serving as vice chairman on the House Appropriations Committee.

Before asking the HUD secretary what she thought about” the consequences of a continuing resolution” for her department, Cole told Fudge,” I do think it’s’s fair to say we’re’re unlikely to be able to give you the increase that you want, but I want to start where I hope we have common ground.”

First of all, I’d’d say that for the roughly 125, 000 people we are currently supporting, we would likely lose housing. ” We would be short by about$ 500 million.”

HUD would function” in 32, 000 fewer people experiencing poverty” and remove arrangements related to its projects-based rental assistance system.

Fudge added that personal information would be at risk if HUD did not properly maintain its IT systems.

As you are aware, this nation is experiencing a construction issue. Without knowing where we were going, we wouldn’t possibly know how many people we had function, according to Fudge.

She acknowledged that” budget processes” can be challenging, but she added,” I would just ask you to think about the fact that you do not want to balance your budget on the backs of the poor or those who most need our assistance.” We would be in a lot of trouble because, to be completely honest, we wouldn’t hear what to do month after month.

The Value of a Timely Bill

We all understand the significance of having a proper full-year budget expenses, Cole said in his opening notes. for HUD and the entire public. We are aware of the repercussions of neither acting appropriately from year to year.

We need to work together to ensure that communities get the support they need while also making sure that we’re’re not contributing to skyrocketing prices and out-of-control deficits through irresponsible fiscal policies, he continued,” as we hear testimony from the Secretary about the President’s’s budget request.”

The ranking member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development is Rep. Mike Quigley( D-Ill ). He praised the HUD proposed budget for 2024 at the hearing, telling Fudge that” your proposed investments would ensure millions of Americans remain stably housed and [ can ] access the support they need to build a stable, safe, and thriving future.”

According to Quigley,” more revenue and greater freedom are essential to maintaining and expanding our inexpensive houses and sustaining our areas.” The alternative