FY 2026 Minibus Passes, Ending Shutdown and Boosting HUD Funding
Following some expeditious deal-making between President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, passage in the Senate and subsequent strong-arming by President Trump in the Republican Conference, the House today passed the final FY 2026 minibus (minus permanent DHS funding) by a vote of 217-214. Once the President signs the budget, which is expected this afternoon, this will end the three+ day shutdown of much of the government and mark a significant accomplishment for Congress and the President.
As a reminder, the THUD budget allocates $77.3 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Notable funding amounts include:
Tenant-Based Rental Assistance/Section 8 Housing Vouchers: The bill provides $38.4 billion for these vouchers, an increase from both the $35.3 billion included in the House Republican THUD bill and the fiscal year 2025 enacted funding level of $36.04 billion.
Project-Based Rental Assistance: Funding is set at $18.5 billion, which exceeds both the $17.127 billion in the earlier House THUD bill and the FY 2025 enacted level of $16.5 billion.
HOME Program: The bill restores funding for the HOME program at $1.25 billion. This is a reversal from the House Republican THUD bill, which would have eliminated funding for this program.
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): The bill maintains funding at $3.3 billion, at the same level as previous years.
Public Housing: Funding for public housing is set at $8.3 billion—$1 billion more than the earlier House bill, though still less than the prior enacted level, which was close to $9 billion.
Choice Neighborhoods: The bill allocates $25 million to the Choice Neighborhoods program, down from the current $75 million.
Now that the budget fight is behind us, we look forward to a House vote on the comprehensive housing reform legislation, Housing in the 21st Century Act, in the near future and hopefully before the President’s State of the Union address on February 24. We have some concerns about the BABA provision in the legislation, as we have heard that Financial Services Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) may offer an amendment on the House floor to remove the BABA language from the HOME Reform title of the bill. This would remove the BABA mandate exemption from HOME funds and would be a significant loss for our affordable housing agenda. We are working diligently to short-circuit this effort and ask anyone familiar with Congresswoman Waters to weigh in with her. Given the strong bipartisan support for the legislation as a whole, the Speaker may move to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, which would require a two-thirds majority but would allow no amendments. We will keep you apprised as this legislation moves forward.