Affordable Housing

On March 9, HUD announced the Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) for 2023, which adjust rents for certain Section 8 housing assistance payment programs. HUD establishes the rent adjustment factors on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data relating to changes in residential rent and utility costs. AAFs are applied at the anniversary of certain Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts; the amount that an owner is required to deposit to the Reserve for Replacement account is also adjusted annually by the most recently published AAF, at the HAP contract anniversary. The 2023 AAFs are effective March 9. More information is available here.

Together with several of our partner associations, LeadingAge national asks all members who offer Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Support and/ or are a CCRC/ LPC to participate in the annual data-gathering for the State of Seniors Housing publication. This publication offers many of the comparative data sets that members seek throughout the year, including financial, workforce, and service line statistics. The deadline to participate is April 17, and all participants will receive a free copy of the final report. For more information, you can access more details here or contact Colleen Blumenthal at colleen.blumenthal@healthtrust.com.

Two large funds that support affordable housing, the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund, receive their funding based on new business volume of the housing government sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The federal overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has announced 2023 allocations to these two funds based on 2022 business volume. As FHFA explains in its announcement, “Market conditions in 2022, including higher interest rates, reduced the Enterprises’ total new business purchases compared to the previous year.” As such, contributions from the GSEs to the two funds decreased from $1.14 billion in 2022 to $545 million in 2023 (with $354 million for the HTF and $191 million for the CMF). Read the announcement here.

On March 13, the White House released appendices and tables to accompany with the fiscal year 2024 budget request overview delivered to Congress on March 9. For housing programs, the new documents provide detail on the Administration’s request. Overall, the FY24 request seeks $73.3 billion for HUD, approximately $1.1 billion more than the 2023 enacted funding level. Under the request, HUD’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly and Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance accounts would receive full renewal funding and funding for new Section 202 homes would be level with FY23 levels. Read more about the details of HUD’s request here.