A housing subdivision under construction in Tucson off Silverbell Road. December 2020.
The City of Tucson is anticipating government funding cuts for one of its housing affordability programs in the coming year.
HOME is the city’s second largest source of federal funding for housing assistance, according to last year’s Housing Action Plan.
Both the city and Pima County receive federal funds from the program, which expands affordable housing projects and provides rental assistance to low-income families.
Congress’ Housing and Urban Development budget passed earlier this month cut $250 million from the program. Although that was less than the $1 billion cut suggested in the House, it’s still a 17% reduction from last year, said Jason Thorpe with Tucson’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
Marcos Ysmael, Director of Housing Programs for Pima County, said the lack of funding for housing programs is not new.
“That's basically the problem, is not enough funding. We were hoping to see a bigger allocation of HOME funds from Congress, but that didn't happen,” Ysmael said.
Officials said they won’t know exactly how much the city and county will lose in the next fiscal year until final numbers are released later this month.
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