On our April 4 webinar, we covered the most important current issues related to the state and federal budgets for housing and homeless programs, including:
STATE BUDGET: The focus was on the FY15 state budget for Emergency and Transitional Housing, Homeless Prevention, Supportive Housing Services, the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund and related programs. Governor Quinn released his budget proposal on March 26 and the House and Senate have until May 31 to page their budget. Housing Action’s work between now and end of May will be focused on preserving certain parts of Governor’s proposal and increasing funding for other line items. We need your help!
FEDERAL BUDGET: President Obama released his FY15 budget proposal on March 4 and the House and Senate are ramping up efforts on passing their own versions of the budget. We reviewed advocacy efforts regarding a number of key line items (such as McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, Housing Choice Vouchers, Project-Based Section 8 contracts and Housing Counseling) and put them in the context of bigger issues, such as the impact of sequestration and negotiations over deficit reduction and tax reform. We also talked about which members of the Illinois Congressional delegation are most important for us to reach out to.
PROACTIVE SOLUTIONS: Working on state and federal budget issues has obviously been challenging in recent years. However, there are proactive campaigns to increase affordable housing and end homelessness that we’ll provide brief updates on. At the federal level, Housing Action supports the United for Homes campaign to reform of the mortgage interest deduction and use the savings for the National Housing Trust Fund. At the state level, we’ve endorsed the A Better Illinois campaign to amend the State of Illinois Constitution to allow for a fair income tax. We provided updates on those efforts and let you know how you can support them.
Title: Housing Action State/Federal Budget Webinar
Date: Friday, April 4, 2014
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM CDT
Click here to download a PDF version of the full-sized slides.
Click here to download a PDF version with three slides per page.