An Overview of the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Nov. 8, 2024 |
| Report Number |
R40118 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Katie Jones, Analyst in Housing Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program was authorized by the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-625). HOME is a federal block grant program that
provides funding to states and eligible localities to be used exclusively for affordable housing
activities to benefit low-income households.
Funds for HOME are appropriated annually to the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), which in turn distributes funding to states and eligible localities by
formula. Forty percent of HOME funds are allocated to states and 60% are allocated to localities.
The formula takes into account six factors, including the number of units in a jurisdiction that are
substandard or unaffordable, the age of a jurisdiction’s housing, and the number of families living
below the poverty line in the jurisdiction.
States and localities that receive HOME funds are known as participating jurisdictions.
Participating jurisdictions must match the HOME funds they spend with their own 25%
permanent contribution to affordable housing activities. They also must submit a Consolidated
Plan to HUD that identifies the community’s housing needs and describes in detail how HOME
and other HUD block grant funds will be used to meet those needs. Participating jurisdictions can
administer HOME funds themselves, or they can designate public agencies or nonprofit
organizations to administer all or part of the HOME program on their behalf.
HOME funds can be used to finance a wide variety of affordable housing activities that generally
fall into six categories: new construction of owner-occupied housing, rehabilitation of owneroccupied housing, assistance to homebuyers, new construction of rental housing, rehabilitation of
rental housing, and tenant-based rental assistance. Housing assisted with HOME funding must
meet certain income targeting and affordability requirements. Specifically, all HOME-assisted
housing units must benefit households with incomes at or below 80% of area median income.
Additionally, 90% of occupants of HOME-assisted rental units and households that receive
tenant-based rental assistance must have incomes at or below 60% of area median income.
HOME-assisted housing must also meet certain definitions of affordability and must continue to
remain affordable to low-income households for a specified period of time. The specific
affordability requirements vary according to the type of activity for which funds are used and the
amount of HOME funding contributed to the project.
The amount of appropriations that Congress has provided to the HOME program has varied
somewhat from year to year. From the late 1990s until FY2011, funding for HOME was generally
between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per year. Between FY2012 and FY2017, appropriations did
not exceed $1 billion per year. More recently, annual appropriations have been in the range of
$1.3 billion. In FY2024, Congress appropriated $1.25 billion for the program.
In FY2024 (the most recent HOME funding distributed as of the cover date of this report), all 50
states and 632 localities and consortia received HOME formula grants along with the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four insular areas. The median state grant amount (including the
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) was about $8 million, and the median locality grant
amount was about $660,000.
