Authorized in 2008 by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, provides grants to states for the purchase, construction or renovation of rental housing for families with extremely low incomes?

• A. National Housing Trust Fund HTF
• B. HOME Investment Partnerships Program
• C. Public Housing
• D. Section 8

Answer: (A)

The National Housing Trust Fund is the program created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to boost the supply of rental housing for the lowest-income households. It provides formula grants to states specifically to build, preserve, or rehabilitate rental housing that serves extremely low-income families—those at or below about 30 percent of the area’s median income. Funds go to states, which then use them to support developers and preservation projects with long-term affordability requirements. This aligns exactly with the description in your question: a 2008 authorization, grants to states, for purchase, construction, or renovation of rental housing for extremely low-income families.

Public Housing involves government-owned units managed by local housing authorities and isn’t issued as state formula grants for new construction or rehab under HERA. Section 8 is the Housing Choice Voucher program that helps families pay rent rather than funding construction or renovation. HOME provides flexible grants to states and localities for a range of affordable housing activities, but it isn’t the program created specifically in 2008 to target extremely low-income rental housing with state grants.