US Treasury eases rules on unspent COVID aid to boost affordable housing
March 05, 2024 by The U.S. Treasury will allow state and local governments to access unspent funds from the 350 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund if the money is used for housing projects for families earning up to 120% of the area’s median income. This is a large jump since it was originally 65% of the area’s median income. As of Sept. 30, 2023, Treasury estimated that about 12% of the $350 billion in state and local funding had not been budgeted by states and the largest cities and counties, which received the lion’s share of the funding. The widening of criteria will allow more support for housing projects. They also announced that any community that has leftover or unspent funds from the COVID-era Emergency Rental Assistance Program can reappropriate them for “pre-development” and land acquisition costs for low-income affordable housing projects, in addition to construction and rehabilitation costs allowed previously.