Hope Six programs still owe 78 million dollars worth of funds

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on “Federal Spending Requirements in Housing and Community Development Programs: Challenges in 2008 and Beyond.” Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) presided over the hearing and talked about the Hope Six housing and development program and the reforms that need to be made to it.

Waters explained that all grantees who started Hope Six programs in 2002 or later are required to expend all funds granted to them in five years. Unfortunately, many of these programs have had to deal with natural disasters and the mortgage sub-prime crisis which caused project delays and increased cost. Waters said that the Hope Six Amendment Act of 2008 will grant a one year extension to those programs who have dealt with these problems and cannot therefor meet their five year deadline.

Deputy Assistant for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Secretary Dominique Bloom, explained HUD’s roles to monitor and assist all Hope Six projects and grantees. Bloom said that HUD works with grantees to create a development schedule in order to make a five year funding expenditure deadline realistic. However, she also explained that a total of 78 million dollars worth of funds from the twenty eight Hope Six programs started in 2002 still remain unexpended. Twenty one of these programs are on track to meet their September 30, 2008 deadline, but three of them are unlikely to be able to expend their funds, a maximum value of four million dollars.

Bloom explained that HUD does not yet have an official position on the Hope Six Amendment Act of 2008, though they are reviewing it very closely and expect to form an opinion in the next couple of weeks. Bloom said that in most cases granting programs a one year extension on their funds will be much easier than simply granting these programs “technical assistance” or canceling the project overall.