HOME Investment Partnerships Program
(HOME)
Department of Housing and Urban Development1.39 million homes financed since 1992; 404,000 families receiving rental assistance; leverages $4.52 per federal dollar
What This Program Does
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program provides federal grants to state and local governments to fund a range of affordable housing activities, including building and rehabilitating housing, providing rental assistance to low-income families, and helping first-time homebuyers. Since its creation in 1992, the program has helped finance approximately 1.39 million homes. HOME funds are designed to leverage private investment, generating an estimated $4.52 in additional funding for every federal dollar spent.
Who Would Be Affected
Approximately 404,000 families currently receiving rental assistance through HOME-funded projects could be directly affected. State and local governments that rely on these grants to support affordable housing construction, rehabilitation, and homebuyer assistance programs would lose a key funding source. Low-income renters, first-time homebuyers, and communities with limited affordable housing stock would be most impacted.
What This Cut Would Mean
Eliminating the program's $1.3 billion in annual funding would end federal support for new affordable housing development and rental assistance delivered through HOME. The administration argues that affordable housing investment should be redirected to the private sector rather than sustained through federal grants. Housing policy analysts have raised concerns that private investment alone may not adequately serve the lowest-income households, and that the loss of HOME's significant leveraging effect — which has historically multiplied each federal dollar by more than four times — could result in a much larger overall reduction in affordable housing investment nationwide.
Administration's Stated Rationale
“Affordable housing investment redirected to private sector; federal grant program eliminated.”