NHTF Allocation Formula Released; State Estimates Available
National Housing Trust Fund
Memo to Members: Vol 14, No. 46, December 4, 2009
The proposed regulations governing how NHTF funds will be allocated were published in the Federal Register on December 4. The regulations were developed by HUD. With the factors used to determine the formula for distribution now known, NLIHC has been able to estimate how much money each state and territory will receive assuming an initial $1 billion funding allocation.
The proposed allocation formula is consistent with the intent of the National Housing Trust Fund to serve the lowest income households where the need for housing production is the greatest by giving a combined weight of 75% to the two factors in the formula that address the needs of ELI renter households. One of these two factors, the ratio of the shortage of standard rental units both affordable and available to ELI renters in the state to this shortage at the national level, is given the highest priority with a weight of 50%. The other factor addressing ELI renters is given a weight of 25%. The remaining two factors in the formula address the needs of very low income renters and are given less weight (12.5% each). The formula also takes into account the relative cost of construction in each state compared to the national cost of construction.
The minimum allocation amount that a state can receive is $3 million, so any states with an estimated allocation amount below that amount will receive $3 million and the allocations to all other states will be adjusted accordingly. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are defined as states for the purpose of receiving NHTF dollars. In addition, allocations to the four U.S. territories, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands, were based on the proportion of renter households in each of these areas to the total number of renter households in the U.S., and these amounts were subtracted from the $1 billion available for the 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
NLIHC supports the proposed allocation formula and commends HUD for distributing regulations that are so closely aligned with the intent of the NHTF legislation. HUD is accepting public comments on these regulations through February 2, 2010.
The proposed regulations can be found in the Federal Register for December 4 here http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-28984.pdf
NLIHC preliminary estimates of state allocation amounts are available at: http://www.nlihc.org/doc/NHTF-State-Estimates.pdf
