Advocate for Housing Programs Under the New Budget Deal and Stop the Raid on the National Housing Trust Fund
Thanks in large part to the hard work of advocates across the country, Congress approved a two year budget deal that will provide relief from sequestration. While this is welcome news, it does not guarantee greater funding for housing programs. Housing advocates must act now to inform their legislators of their priorities. The fate of the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) and other key housing programs still hangs in the balance. There are only five weeks until the current Continuing Resolution expires on December 11. Now is the time for advocates to weigh in as Congressional offices have begun negotiations on funding levels for specific programs.
BACKGROUND
Earlier this year, both the House and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed their respective Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bills for FY16 under the constraints of the sequester caps. Both bills resulted in drastic cuts for housing programs.
The budget deal will raise the sequester caps for nondefense discretionary programs, like housing, by $33 billion in FY16. Congress must now renegotiate how it will allocate federal funds across these programs. Our lawmakers have the opportunity to enact a THUD spending bill that provides housing programs the funds they need to continue serving our country’s poorest families.
TAKE ACTION
Let your Senators and Representative know which housing programs are important to you. To contact your legislator, call the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 or click here send them an email.
Key programmatic priorities we ask members of Congress to support include:
- Oppose any raid on the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) to pay for any other program. The NHTF was authorized to address the housing needs of extremely low-income (ELI) households, and is intended to be a permanent program with dedicated sources of funding, not subject to the annual appropriations process. The program is ready to be implemented; funds are expected to be available to states beginning this upcoming March.
- Fully fund the renewal of Housing Choice Vouchers at $18.05 billion, and provide $470 million to restore 60,000 vouchers lost due to sequestration budget cuts in recent years. In Illinois, 72 percent of waiting lists for Housing Choice Vouchers in Illinois are closed.
- Provide $2.480 billion for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program. This will allow us to replicate the success we’ve already seen in communities that are declaring an end to veteran homelessness, where modest Congressional investments have the country on the verge of solving this problem.
- Fund HOME at $1.016 billion. The program already been slashed by 50% in recent years (from $1.8 billion in 2010 to $900 million in 2015). Further cuts will make it even harder for communities to address their local housing needs.
- Fund the HUD Housing Counseling Assistance Program at $60 million and provide $50 million for the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program so that HUD approved housing counseling agencies can continue to assist first time homebuyers and people working to avoid foreclosure.
- Fully fund 12 month Project-Based Rental Assistance renewals at $10.826 billion.
- Provide at least $4.8 billion for the public housing operating fund and $2.5 billion for public housing capital fund.
- Fund Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS at $335 million.
- Fund Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities at $177 million.
- Fund Section 202 Housing for the Elderly at $455 million.
- Oppose the expansion of the Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration program for public housing without needed reforms.
Let your Senators and Representative know which housing programs are important to you. To contact your legislator, call the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 or click here send them an email.