(RECAP: The Senate Appropriations Committee on April 21 unanimously approved its Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) funding bill. The THUD Appropriations Subcommittee reported the bill April 19. The full Committee adopted the bill with only minor amendments, which did not change its HUD program funding levels. The bill provides $950 million for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and fully funds project-based rental help contracts. The bill also increases the number of public housing units that can convert under the Rental Help Demonstration (RAD) program from 185,000 to 250,000 and eliminates the program’s sunset date. It also includes authority for Section 202 Project Rental Help Contract properties to convert under RAD and provides $4 million in help to those properties for that purpose. In addition, it provides $56.5 billion in new spending on programs within its jurisdiction, $827 million less than the THUD FY 2016 funding amount and $2.9 billion below the Administration’s FY 2017 budget request.)

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(RECAP: Everyone in Chesapeake wants the city’s growth to be “smart.” Or managed. Or responsible. It’s one of the most talked-about topics heading into the May 3 election. Citizens in the past year have seen their schools become more crowded, more fields filled by subdivisions and the City Council quick-track more developments than ever before. They want to know that growth is under control. But few agree on what that means. In interviews, the six candidates seeking three at-large seats on the City Council – and unopposed Mayor Alan Krasnoff – gave varying thoughts on “smart growth,” and whether Chesapeake is doing it well.)

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(RECAP: Senate appropriators approved $13 million in new funding to update the Federal Housing Administration’s “outdated and unautomated” information technology systems, but rejected President Obama’s proposed way of paying for it. HUD has been seeking additional funding to modernize its own and FHA’s IT systems for several years.
But the Senate subcommittee again rejected the Obama administration’s proposal to pay for the update by levying a 4-basis-point fee on lenders. This fee would cost a lender $40 on a $100,000 loan.)

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