HUD REPORTS BANNER YEAR FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRODUCTION
HOME Program helps record 143,396 families to find an affordable place to live

WASHINGTON - It's been a very good year for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's chief program for promoting affordable housing. In fact, HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) posted record performance during fiscal year 2006 with substantial increases in the number of families assisted and affordable homes produced. HOME is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively to produce affordable housing for low-income families.

In 2006, more than 143,000 households benefited from hundreds of local programs that HOME supports, a 42 percent increase over the previous year. Meanwhile, President Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget seeks an additional $159 million for the HOME program to build on this year's record production.

"Behind these numbers are families struggling to find a home they can afford," said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. "No matter how you add it up, the HOME program is making a huge difference in the lives of people, particularly in high cost areas where finding an affordable home can be a challenge."

HUD's Office of Affordable Housing reports that during FY 2006, 120,071 affordable homes were either constructed or renovated through its HOME Program, compared to 80,751 in 2005. In addition, 23,325 families received tenant-based rental assistance last year, a 13 percent increase over the previous year. HUD also reports substantial increases in the number of families able to purchase their first home through HOME and its sister program, The American Dream Downpayment Initiative.

Jackson added, "This isn't just about better reporting. In a very real way, HUD's HOME Program is accelerating the pace of affordable housing production across this country."

The spike in HOME's affordable housing production is due in large part to HUD's aggressive effort to boost performance measurements and stepped up efforts to encourage participating jurisdictions to report their results more accurately. HUD issues monthly production reports and a quarterly HOME Program Performance SNAPSHOT to identify these participating jurisdictions. The SNAPSHOTs compare the performance of HOME participating jurisdictions to each other for eight factors and assign a performance ranking.

The SNAPSHOTs have succeeded in focusing attention on production and the completion of units. The new "Open Activities Report," as the name indicates, directs participating jurisdictions to their open activities and assists them in completing them. In continuation of this effort, a new performance report, the HOME Dashboard, directed at state and local elected officials and intended to focus their attention on the use of HOME funds in the production of affordable housing in their jurisdictions, will be released in the first quarter of FY 2007.