HUD Secretary Carson Testifies on HUD Budget, LIHTC as a Resource

HUD Secretary Ben Carson recently testified before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing titled “The Future of Housing in America: Oversight of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.” The hearing’s intent was to discuss current HUD activities and programming. He defended the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to HUD’s budget and his testimony included thinking about housing in the context of a whole person; expanding engagement in Public Private Partnerships (PPP), including Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), to attract private capital to renovate and construct affordable housing; and repealing burdensome regulations.

Secretary Carson specifically praised private-public partnerships like RAD and the LIHTC as keys to increasing the availability of affordable homes. RAD allows public housing agencies to leverage public and private debt and equity to reinvest in their public housing stock. Secretary Carson said the LIHTC when used with RAD helps public housing agencies address their growing backlog of deferred maintenance.