U.S President Biden announces award of $85M in housing funds

President of the United States, Joe Biden has announced the award of eighty five million dollars in housing subsidies to 21 different state and local governments.

This is in effort to assist state and local governments in removing obstacles to the creation and maintenance of more affordable housing units.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Department of Housing and Urban Development Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman said the awards from HUD’s initial Pathways to Removing Obstacles (PRO) to Housing program would help update state and local housing plans, revise land use policies and streamline the permitting process for new developments.

The grants coincided with an administration campaign this week to demonstrate that President Joe Biden is acting to address excessive housing costs. HUD’s PRO Housing program was established in the fiscal 2023 budget bill.

A chronic shortage of housing is continuing to drive up rentals and lingering consumer price inflation, contributing to a delay in Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that $100 million in revenue from COVID-era community lending investments would be diverted to a new affordable housing financing fund.

Harris said “a $2.1 million award to Milwaukee would help the city provide subsidies to builders to help them more easily develop vacant lots and abandoned buildings.” A $4.5 million grant to Denver would help provide low cost loans to housing developers to make connections to utilities.

Harris stated that “the Biden administration will release another $100 million worth of grants later this summer.” More than 175 localities have submitted applications for the funding. As part of his proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which begins on October 1, Biden has asked for an additional $100 million.

This week, Biden’s proposed $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and a $25,000 equity grant for first-generation homeowners from low-income families were also urged by Harris and Yellen to Congress. In the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, the plans have stalled.