Trump wants to ax an affordable housing grant that’s a lifeline for many rural communities

Heather Colley and her two children moved four times over five years as they fled high rents in eastern Tennessee which like much of rural America hasn t been spared from soaring housing costs A family gift in of a small plot of land offered a shot at homeownership but building a house was beyond reach for the -year-old single mother and manicurist making an hour That changed when she qualified for from a nonprofit to build a three-bedroom home because of a grant initiative that has helped make affordable housing accomplishable in rural areas for decades She moved in last June Every time I pull into my garage I pinch myself Colley explained Now President Donald Trump wants to eliminate that grant the HOME Assets Partnerships Effort and House Republicans overseeing federal budget negotiations did not include funding for it in their budget proposal Experts and state housing agencies say that would set back tens of thousands of future affordable housing developments nationwide particularly hurting Appalachian towns and rural counties where leadership aid is sparse and investors are sparse The venture has helped build or repair more than million affordable homes in the last three decades of which at least were in congressional districts that are rural or significantly rural according to an Associated Press analysis of federal information Maybe they don t realize how far-reaching these programs are commented Colley who voted for Trump in Among those half a million homes that HOME helped build were in districts that voted for him last year the AP analysis discovered I understand we don t want excessive spending and wasting taxpayer dollars Colley announced but these proposed budget cuts across the board make me rethink the next time I go to the polls The HOME project started under President George H W Bush in the s survived years of budget battles but has been stretched thin by years of rising construction costs and stagnant funding That s meant fewer units including in particular rural areas where home prices have grown faster than in cities The venture has spent more than billion nationwide since it began filling in funding gaps and attracting more assets to acquire build and repair affordable homes HUD input shows Additional funding has gone toward projects that have yet to be finished and rental assistance HOME s future is in political limbo To account for the gap left by the proposed cuts House Republicans want to draw on nearly billion from a related pandemic-era fund that gave states until to spend on projects supporting people who are unhoused or facing homelessness That billion however may be far less since numerous projects haven t yet been logged into the U S Department of Housing and Urban Enhancement s tracking system according to state housing agencies and associations representing them A spokesperson for HUD which administers the effort revealed HOME isn t as effective as other programs where the money would be better spent In opposition to Trump Senate Republicans have still included funding for HOME in their draft budget In the coming negotiations both chambers may compromise and reduce but not terminate HOME s funding or extend last years overall budget White House spokesperson Davis Ingle didn t respond to specific questions from the AP Instead Ingle stated that Trump s commitment to cutting red tape is making housing more affordable A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is working to reduce HOME s notorious red tape that even proponents say slows construction Specific rural areas are more dependent on HOME In Owsley County one of the nation s poorest located in the rural Kentucky hills residents struggle in an financial market blighted by coal mine closures and declining tobacco crop revenues Affordable homes are needed there but tough to build in a region that doesn t attract larger-scale rental developments that federal dollars typically go toward That s where HOME comes in mentioned Cassie Hudson who runs Partnership Housing in Owsley which has relied on the undertaking to build the majority of its affordable homes for at least a dozen years A lack of additional funding for HOME has already made it hard to keep up with construction costs Hudson reported and the organization builds a quarter of the single-family homes it used to Particularly for deeply rural places and persistent poverty counties local housing developers are the only way homes and new rental housing gets built mentioned Joshua Stewart of Fahe a coalition of Appalachian nonprofits That s in part because capital is scant and HOME efforts in when construction costs exceed what a home can be sold for a common barrier in poor areas of Appalachia Specific developers use the profits to build more affordable units Its loss would erode those nonprofits ability to build affordable homes in years to come Stewart declared One of those nonprofits Housing Growth Alliance helped Tiffany Mullins in Hazard Kentucky which was ravaged by floods Mullins a single mother of four who makes an hour at Walmart bought a house there thanks to HOME funding and moved in August Mullins sees the plan as preserving a rural way of life recalling when folks owned homes and land with gardens we had chickens cows Now you don t see much of that It s a long-term impact In congressional budget negotiations HOME is an easier target than programs such as vouchers because greater part people would not instantly lose their housing noted Tess Hembree executive director of the Council of State Society Advancement Agencies The effect of any reduction would instead be felt in a fizzling of new affordable housing supply When HOME funding was temporarily reduced to million in to years later we re seeing the ramifications Hembree stated That includes affordable units built in cities The biggest undertaking that funds affordable rental housing nationwide the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit uses HOME grants for of units totaling current individual units according to soon-to-be-published Urban Institute research Trump s spending bill that Republicans passed this summer increased LIHTC but experts say further reducing or cutting HOME would make those credits less usable It s LITHC plus HOME usually disclosed Tim Thrasher CEO of Group Action Partnership of North Alabama which builds affordable apartments for particular of the nation s poorest In the lush mountains of eastern West Virginia Woodlands Maturation Group relies on HOME for its smaller rural projects Because it helps people with a wider range of incomes HOME is one of the only programs available to us that allows us to develop true workforce housing announced executive director Dave Clark It s those workers nurses first responders teachers that nonprofits like east Tennessee s Creative Compassion use HOME to build for With the venture in jeopardy grant administrator Sarah Halcott declared she fears for her clients battling rising housing costs This is just another nail in the coffin for rural areas Halcott noted Kramon stated from Atlanta Bedayn announced from Denver Herbst contributed from New York City and Kessler communicated from Washington D C Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press Assessment for America Statehouse News Initiative Summary for America is a nonprofit national system scheme that places journalists in local newsrooms to analysis on undercovered issues