Last Friday, April 8, the government avoided a shutdown as the Senate and House were able to pass a last-minute stopgap funding measure to fund the government to Friday, April 15. The short-term measure funds housing programs largely at fiscal year (FY) 2010 levels, but includes a $149 million cut to the Public Housing Operation fund.

In order to complete the FY 2011 budget prior to the expiration of the current stopgap funding measure, late last night, Congress released the details of its final fiscal year (FY) 2011 funding bill. The legislation included a total of approximately $40 billion in cuts compared to FY 2010. Many homeless and housing assistance programs were flat funded; however, the legislation includes funding for a number of key programs related to affordable housing and homelessness. Congress is proposing these programs are funded at the following levels:

• 1.905 billion for HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program, a $40 million increase over FY 2010;
• $50 million for new HUD - VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program vouchers to house an estimated 7,690 additional homeless veterans;
• No funding for Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration vouchers;
• $116 million for Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) programs, equal to the FY 2010 level;
• $3.3 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), a $650 million decrease from FY 2010;
• $18.4 billion for Section 8 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (Housing Choice Vouchers), enough to fund all existing vouchers, including $35 million for Section 811 mainstream voucher renewals; and
• $4.6 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund; a $149 million decrease from FY 2010 levels, $2 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund; and
• $5 billion for Community Health Centers, a $600 million decrease from FY 2010.