The Biden-Harris Administration has made significant investments in affordable housing over the past four years, according to a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Under the leadership of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, and Adrianne Todman, HUD has focused on making homeownership more attainable, boosting affordable housing supply, expanding rental assistance, aiding disaster recovery efforts, ensuring climate resilience in housing stock, assisting homeless populations, investing in Tribal communities, and combating discrimination in housing.
HUD's initiatives have led to substantial savings for American homebuyers through reduced mortgage insurance premiums. "More than a million borrowers have now saved more than $800 million because of this reduction from March 2023 through September 30, 2024," stated HUD. Additionally, over 2.3 million people purchased their first homes with HUD's help during this period.
Efforts to boost affordable housing include building or repairing over 500,000 units and driving near-record construction with 1.7 million new units built in 2022. The administration also awarded significant funding to address barriers to housing production and preservation.
In terms of rental assistance, HUD issued over 120,000 new vouchers in the past four years and allocated substantial funds to public housing authorities. "Provided safe quality public housing to over 800,000 low-income families," noted HUD.
To aid communities recovering from disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes, HUD awarded over $28 million in Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing grants since 2022.
On climate resilience and sustainability fronts: "Successfully delivered more than $1.4 billion...to modernize over 30 thousand affordable homes across...states." Moreover, actions were taken to reduce carbon emissions and enhance flood protection standards.
For homelessness assistance: "Permanently housed or served more than 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness," with record federal funding provided through various programs aimed at reducing youth homelessness specifically.
Investments also targeted Tribal communities with nearly $5 billion allocated through specific programs while addressing racial bias via updated policies within FHA Reconsideration processes among other measures related towards rooting out discrimination across sectors like real estate appraisal markets etcetera including enforcing protections under Fair Housing Act against LGBTQI+ community-based discriminations aligning presidential executive orders alongside Supreme Court rulings accordingly too...
Lastly improving operational efficiency was highlighted wherein it mentioned having secured clean audit opinions consecutively underscoring transparency accountability responsible stewardship taxpayer dollars plus enhancing accessibility resources empowering nationwide...
