Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Makes Investments in Affordable Housing Over Past Four Years

• By: admin
• On: 01/15/2025 09:29:58
• In: HUD News

WASHINGTON - Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is improving the lives of families and communities across the country. Over the past four years, under the leadership of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, and the Honorable Adrianne Todman, HUD has made homeownership more attainable, boosted the supply of affordable homes, expanded rental assistance, helped communities recover from disaster, worked to ensure that our affordable housing stock is climate-resilient, assisted our homeless neighbors, made historic investments in Tribal and Latino communities, and improved the efficiency of the Department.

See below for more.

Making Homeownership More Attainable for More Americans

• HUD reduced mortgage insurance premiums, delivering real savings to American homebuyers and helping more families attain the dream of homeownership through FHA-insured financing. More than a million borrowers have now saved more than $800 million because of this reduction from March 2023 through September 30, 2024.
• Over the past four years, HUD helped more than 2.3 million people buy their first home, and served more than 1.2 million borrowers of color.
• HUD helped nearly 2 million homeowners stay in their homes during the pandemic.

The Biden-Harris Administration has made homeownership more attainable for more Americans, including disadvantaged communities and first-time homebuyers. The Department…

• Helped Americans with student loan debt get a fair shot at a mortgage.
• Expanded housing counseling resources to support homeownership opportunities, including launching HUD's Let's Make Home the Goal campaign, reaching 14 million consumers in 2024 through Zillow, Google, and 42 metro areas.
• Helped first-time homebuyers by allowing positive rental history to be factored into FHA mortgage creditworthiness assessments.
• Updated requirements to help homeowners with Accessory Dwelling Units.
• Modernized a key program to help individuals and families purchase or refinance a home in need of renovation or repair.
• Proposed updates that would make it easier for borrowers with income from renting rooms inside their home to qualify for FHA-insured mortgage financing.

Boosting the Supply of Affordable Housing

Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, HUD:

• Built or repaired over 500,000 affordable housing units.
• Drove near-record construction, with 1.7 million new housing units built in 2022.
• Awarded $85 million and announced an additional $100 million in PRO Housing funding to address barriers to housing production and preservation and support the efforts of communities who have committed to housing-forward policies and practices.
• Implemented the most significant update to Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (the HUD Code) in over 30 years. Over the last four years, HUD ensured safe and affordable production of approximately 360,000 manufactured homes that adhere to the HUD Code.
• Built a new program for non-profits, homeowner groups, and other mission-oriented borrowers to purchase manufactured home communities to help preserve, stabilize, and revitalize these vital sources of affordable housing.
• Expanded and improved HUD's Risk Sharing Initiative with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Federal Financing Bank, so that the program can continue to be an important source of capital financing for new affordable rental housing development, helping to finance more than $2.7 billion for the development or preservation of more than 16,200 affordable rental homes for low-income families, seniors, and persons with disabilities.
• HUD released a first-of-its-kind program – Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement, or PRICE – which provided $225 million to preserve, protect, and grow the supply of manufactured housing across the country, supporting over 20 million people who live in manufactured housing nationwide. $11 Million is intended for Tribal Applicants.
• Launched the $250 million “Legacy Challenge” to drive transformative housing investments.
• Expanded and improved the Rental Assistance Demonstration to facilitate recapitalization of public housing to support both the creation of new affordable rental homes and the rehabilitation of existing affordable housing. The program reached a milestone of facilitating $20 billion in new construction investment, including nearly $9.3 million under the Biden-Harris Administration, and added a new program component to help public housing authorities create new deeply affordable rental housing under their existing authority.
• Hosted the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall, attracting 4,000+ attendees and additional educational programming at the District Architecture Center, featuring 75+ national experts on housing innovation to educate the public on technologies to improve housing affordability, quality, energy efficiency, and resilience.

Historic Investments in Rental Assistance

Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, HUD:

• Issued over 120,000 new housing vouchers in the past 4 years, the most in any 3-year period in 20 years, serving more than 5 million people in 2.5 million households last year.
• Allocated $105 billion HCV and $10 billion Admin Fee dollars allocated to 2,118 PHAs from 2021-present.
• Provided safe, quality, public housing to over 800,000 low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities, investing over $20 billion in public housing under this Administration.
• Helped to bridge the digital divide for the communities we serve, bringing training and technical assistance to help nearly 100 communities access affordable high-speed Internet, affordable devices, and digital skills training.

Ensuring Communities Can Recover from Disaster

Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, HUD:

• Assisted families recovering from natural disasters, including Maui wildfires and Hurricanes Beryl, Milton, and Helene.
• Awarded over $42 million in Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing (RUSH) grants since 2022, supporting disaster-impacted individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Ensuring the Nation's Affordable Housing Stock is Resilient and Sustainable

Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, HUD:

• Successfully delivered more than $1.4 billion in record time through the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP), funded by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, to modernize over 30,000 affordable homes across 42 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, making them greener, healthier, and safer.
• Launched a free energy and water benchmarking service for HUD's multifamily housing, helping property owners identify efficiency improvements and green investments.
• Released a first-of-its-kind Climate Action Plan to reduce HUD's carbon footprint and promote equitable, sustainable housing infrastructure.
• Took action to safeguard residents amidst record-high extreme heat.
• Rolled out new resources to help HUD partners build climate-resilient, energy-efficient homes, including an environmental justice website, updated weatherization guidance, and the Build for the Future Retrofit Guide funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
• Adopted new Minimum Energy Standards for homes, projected to reduce 6.35 million metric tons of carbon emissions over 30 years and save $13.9 million annually.
• Adopted new Federal Floodplain Risk Management Standards to enhance flood protection for new construction and substantial rehabilitation. Strengthened notice requirements to ensure residents in floodplains are informed and prepared for potential flooding.
• Since the start of 2021, HUD released almost $1.4 billion to address housing-related hazards, including lead-based paint hazards, radon exposure, and more.

Helping Our Homeless Neighbors

Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, HUD:

• Permanently housed or served more than 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness.
• Released the largest amount of annual federal funding provided through HUD's Continuum of Care program in history – $3.16 billion to over 7,000 projects, expanding housing and services projects for people experiencing homelessness, including survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault. In January 2025, HUD expects to deliver an even-larger funding package: more than $3.5 billion to expand programs for people experiencing homelessness.
• Made record strides in our work to ensure that no young person experiences homelessness.
• Made nearly $43 million in housing assistance through the Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Initiative for young adults transitioning out of foster care.
• Held working group meetings with HUD, HHS, and stakeholders to improve youth homelessness service systems.
• Awarded $32 million for 4,300 FYI vouchers to support youth ages 18-24 with foster care experience at risk of homelessness.
• Awarded $50 million in Youth Homelessness System Improvement Grants to 38 communities, funding infrastructure like Youth Action Boards to address youth homelessness.
• Allocated nearly $216 million to 47 communities through the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program to develop plans to prevent and end youth homelessness.
• Awarded $5 billion in funding through HOME-ARP to reduce homelessness and increase housing stability across the country.
• Reduced veteran homelessness to its lowest level on record, with a 7.5 percent drop from 2023 to 2024 and a 55.6 percent decrease since 2010. Unsheltered veteran homelessness declined by 10.7 percent.
• Awarded $486 million in first-of-its-kind funding to combat rural and unsheltered homelessness.

Investing in Tribal Communities

• Invested nearly $5 billion in Tribal communities through targeted housing programs, including the Indian Housing Block Grant and Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant.
• Established the first-ever Tribal Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (TIAC) to engage Tribal leaders on key issues, including inflation's impact on housing programs, culturally specific housing counseling, and construction costs in Indian Country.
• Streamlined HUD programs, reduced barriers for Tribes, improved interdepartmental coordination, and secured Tribal funding set-asides for new grants, including the first-ever Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant to a Tribal Nation.

Rooting Out Discrimination in Housing

• Took action to address racial bias in homeownership, including new updated FHA Reconsideration of Value policies that that enable borrowers to request a re-assessment of the appraised value of their property if they believe their appraisal was inaccurate or biased.
• Restored the Discriminatory Effects Rule to eliminate discriminatory practices from the housing market.
• Clarified the legality of Special Purpose Credit Programs, enabling lenders to address credit and homeownership inequities, particularly for communities of color and Black individuals.
• Ensured housing protection for the LGBTQI+ community by enforcing the Fair Housing Act against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, aligning with President Biden's Executive Order and the Supreme Court's Bostock ruling.
• Reached a landmark settlement with The Appraisal Foundation to diversify real estate appraisers and create a more equitable appraisal market.
• Charged an appraiser, appraisal company, and lender with housing discrimination for issuing a biased appraisal and denying a refinance in Denver, marking a first in HUD's fair housing enforcement.
• Entered into an?environmental justice compliance agreement?with the City of Chicago and community groups to reduce pollution and mitigate negative health impacts.
• HUD administered new Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) authorities, opening 349 cases and reaching settlements in 41.
• Over the last four years, HUD awarded over $111 million in grants through the Fair Housing Initiatives Program to support fair housing organizations in combating discrimination through education, testing, and enforcement.
• HUD has obtained over $58 million in relief for over 15,000 people through its fair housing enforcement efforts over the last four years.

Research Centering Latino Knowledge and Investing in Centers of Excellence

• HUD awarded $10.5 million in grant awards to four Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to establish research Centers of Excellence (COEs) to conduct housing and community development research.

Improving the Business of HUD

• HUD outperformed government-wide results in all five major categories of the 2024 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, with over 5,500 employees recognizing the Department's commitment to innovation and empowerment.
• HUD has secured a clean audit opinion for five consecutive years, underscoring its unwavering commitment to financial transparency, accountability, and the responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
• Modernized all 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia on HUD.gov, reducing pages from 2,500 to 100, featuring a streamlined, trauma-informed design that enhances accessibility to vital resources like affordable housing services, disaster recovery assistance, and homeownership support, empowering communities nationwide.
• Developed a prototype to simplify and streamline the public process of submitting discrimination complaints.
• Increased public feedback by over 400% in 2024 to nearly 27,000 responses and launched a OneHUD dashboard, enabling program offices to analyze and act on customer insights for improved services.
• Strengthened HUD's reputation as a federal leader in public customer engagement, earning recognition from the President's Management Council, Federal News Network, and the White House Office of Management and Budget.
• Transformed the public-facing single audit process with the OneHUD solution, managing 70,000 audits, saving 5,000 hours annually, and establishing the first department-wide single audit policy.