Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 4 - Housing and Community Development Act of 1987

This version was sent to the Hill

(House)
(Gonzalez (D) Texas and 24 others)

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 4, the Housing, Community Development, and Homelessness Prevention Act of 1987, as reported by the House Banking Committee. If it were presented to the President in its current form, the President's senior advisors would recommend disapproval.

H.R. 4 is objectionable because it would:

• Increase the deficit in FY 1988 by $5.2 billion (outlays) and add $29.5 billion to the deficit over fiscal years 1988-92, as compared with the President's budget;
• Reverse housing reforms enacted by Congress in 1981, including costly restrictions on state use of flexible CDBG funds;
• Create costly new programs such as the Nehemiah homeownership subsidy program for middle income households;
• Fail to terminate the UDAG, HODAG, public housing construction, Section 8 moderate rehabilitation, and Section 312 rehabilitation loan programs, all of which are ineffective and costly;
• Not authorize funding for a housing voucher program; and
• Impose unnecessary, burdensome, and otherwise unacceptable restraints and requirements relating to the President's regulatory process and the management of housing programs.

The Wylie substitute, on the other hand, represents a step in the right direction. It is preferable to H.R. 4 because it would:

• For low income people, provide 20,000 more new housing units than H.R. 4 at less cost.
• Authorize 60,000 housing vouchers for HUD in 1988 and extend this program to rural poor served by the Farmers Home Administration;
• Emphasize preservation of the viable public housing stock by substituting a more effective $1.5?billion Comprehensive Modernization program for public housing construction;
• Hold the line on creating major new housing programs;
• Avoid imposing burdensome administrative restrictions on the implementation of current housing programs;
• Authorize Administration inititatives to strengthen fair housing enforcement and verify incomes of assisted housing tenants.
• Terminate HODAG, Section 8 moderate rehabilitation, and Section 108 CDBG loan guarantee programs; and
• Reduce total authorization of budget authority to $14.2 billion versus $15.9 billion in H.R. 4.

The Administration urges the House to pass a housing bill the President can sign — more like the President's housing program.

It would be a shame if after all the work that has gone into crafting a housing authorization bill, Congress were to produce legislation the President found unacceptable.