The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $25 million to 181 public housing agencies (PHAs) experiencing or at risk of experiencing financial shortfalls. This Public Housing Operating Fund Shortfall funding, provided by the Fiscal Year 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act, will enable PHAs to continue serving residents as they take steps to ensure long-term financial solvency.
“Public housing agencies, like other organizations, have been impacted by financial disruptions from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dominque Blom, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing at HUD. “Supporting PHAs in this way is critical to serving HUD-assisted households. These funds stabilize PHAs so that they can meet the needs of residents and taking steps toward long-term financial stability.”
PHA awardees facing shortfalls are defined as having less than three months of operating expenses held in reserve. While PHAs of various sizes may have been eligible to receive funding, HUD is concerned with the ability of small and very-small PHAs to generate resources to supplement their public housing program, and therefore prioritized these PHAs in the distribution of funds. The list of awardees is available here.
To establish that PHAs that receive Shortfall funding take appropriate steps to ensure long-term financial solvency, HUD will undertake the additional monitoring of all PHAs that receive funding under this category. Additionally, HUD has identified and informed the PHAs of recommended actions that the PHAs can take to improve their financial performance. PHAs that receive Shortfall funding are required to develop a plan identifying action items the PHA can take to improve their financial performance.
Click here to read HUD’s Notice on Implementation of Public Housing Operating Fund Shortfall Funding from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2022 Appropriations.