This presentation provides information about the households that receive federal housing assistance, describes the major budgetary effects of H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act, and describes the FY 2017 appropriation for federal housing assistance. Presentation by Elizabeth Cove Delisle, an analyst in CBO’s Budget Analysis Division, to the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities.

1. Congressional Budget Office
Changes in Federal Housing Assistance for
Low-Income Households
Presentation to the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
July 13, 2017
Elizabeth Cove Delisle, Budget Analysis Division
This presentation includes information published in CBO's cost estimate for H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through
Modernization Act of 2015 (January 2016), www.cbo.gov/publication/51174.

2. 1CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Whom Do Federal Low-Income Housing Programs Assist?
■ Three main programs assist 4.7 million households, or
9.8 million people: public housing, housing choice vouchers
(HCV), and project-based vouchers (PBRA).
■ The programs serve about one-quarter of the roughly
20 million households that are eligible.
■ The average subsidy received by households in 2015 was $7,800.
■ Gross income per household in each program was roughly 25
percent of area median income.
– $14,100 (in 2015 dollars) in the public housing program
– $13,700 in the HCV program
– About $12,400 in the PBRA program

3. 2CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Key Changes in the Housing Opportunity Through
Modernization Act (HOTMA, P.L. 114-201)
Key changes in the law include the following:
■ Tenant income and rent are calculated differently.
■ Households that exceed new income and asset limits are
ineligible for assistance.
■ Other provisions
– Requirements for adjusting payment standards have been revised.
– Eligibility for the Family Unification Program has been expanded.
– PHAs can provide relocation assistance in some circumstances.

4. 3CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Key Features of HOTMA with Budgetary Effects
■ Changes to allowances
– Medical expenses deduction: Reduce to only the amount that exceeds
10 percent of income
– Elderly and disabled deduction: Increase to $525 from $400.
■ Changes to income calculations
– Exclude federal pensions of veterans who receive Aid and Attendance
(A&A) from adjusted income; and
– Increase the threshold for calculating imputed returns to $50,000.

5. 4CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Key Features of HOTMA with Budgetary Effects
■ Changes to eligibility
– Households with more than $100,000 in assets are ineligible for
assistance;
• Public housing authorities (PHAs) and property owners have discretion to
make the determination of eligibility
– PHAs must either terminate assistance for households whose income
exceeds 120 percent of the median for two consecutive years, charge
market rent for the unit, or charge the subsidy amount for the unit
(public housing only).

6. 5CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Key Features of HOTMA with Budgetary Effects
■ Other provisions
– PHAs can maintain housing assistance payments at the prior year’s
amount when the fair market rent in an area decreases;
– Adults aged 22-24 who left foster care after age 16 are eligible for
Family Unification Program vouchers; and
– PHAs can use voucher payments that they withheld because a unit
failed inspection to pay for the relocation costs of the tenant.

7. 6CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Major Budgetary Effects of HOTMA, as reported by the House
Committee on Financial Services on December 9, 2015
Millions of dollars
Fiscal Year
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2017-
2021
CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Medical Expense Allowance
Estimated Authorization Level -144 -201 -211 -223 -236 -1,015
Estimated Outlays -79 -175 -207 -218 -230 -909
Elderly and Disabled Allowance
Estimated Authorization Level 66 88 88 105 105 452
Estimated Outlays 36 78 88 97 105 404
Payment Standard for Rent
Estimated Authorization Level 24 24 25 26 27 125
Estimated Outlays 13 24 25 25 26 113
Asset Eligibility
Estimated Authorization Level 10 13 14 14 14 65
Estimated Outlays 6 12 14 14 14 59
Income Limit in Public Housing
Estimated Authorization Level 8 10 11 11 12 52
Estimated Outlays 4 9 11 11 11 46

8. 7CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Caps on Nondefense Discretionary Appropriations
■ Spending caps limit the size of appropriations for discretionary
programs.
■ The Office of Management and Budget determines the actual
cap amounts each year, on the basis of current law.
■ The nondefense cap for 2017 is about same as the 2016 cap.
– OMB has determined that 2017 appropriations are within the caps, so
sequestration is not necessary.
■ CBO estimates that the 2018 cap will be about 1 percent lower
than it was in 2017, after adjusting for the effects of automatic
spending reductions in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

9. 8CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
Housing and Urban Development’s Fiscal Year 2017
Appropriation
■ The President signed into law the Continuing Appropriations
Act, 2017 (Public Law 115-31) on May 5, 2017.
■ The act provides fiscal year 2017 appropriations through
September 30, 2017 for most programs.
■ The collective level of funding for all major housing assistance
programs is 2.4 percent higher than the fiscal year 2016
amount.
■ Terms and conditions are generally the same as those in the
final appropriation bill for fiscal year 2016.