The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies marked up its FY16 spending bill on Tuesday, June 23. Both Illinois Senators, Mark Kirk and Richard Durbin, serve on this committee.
Not all of the details of the bill have been released, but here are some of the bill’s specifics for next year’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget. The bill would:
- Cut HOME funding from FY15’s level of $900 million to an FY16 level of $66 million–essentially eliminating the program. State and local governments use HOME Investment Partnership Program funds to expand the supply of decent, safe, and affordable housing in their communities.
- Expand the Moving to Work demonstration (currently restricted to 39 public housing agencies) to an additional 300 PHAs, potentially subjecting hundreds of thousands of tenants to rent increases, time limits, and work requirements. For more information on MTW, see the letter from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
- “Continue,” according a Committee press release, “assistance to all families currently served” by the public housing and housing choice voucher programs. The bill would, however, make a $132 million cut to the public housing capital fund.
- According to the same press release, provide a “full year” of funding for all project-based rental assistance contracts and continue assistance to all those currently served.
- Decrease funding for Community Development Block Grants from FY15’s $3.1 billion to $2.9 billion for FY16.
Most other programs, such as Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, were flat funded or received very small increases.
Thankfully, unlike the House version of the HUD budget, the Senate budget does not defund the National Housing Trust Fund.
THE SEQUESTER SPENDING CAPS
The Budget Control Act’s sequester spending caps impose funding restrictions that result in deep cuts to certain programs, such as the gutting of the HOME program, in order to have enough resources to renew project-based rental assistance contracts and existing Housing Voice Vouchers. Until the sequester spending caps are increased, it will be impossible for key HUD programs to get the funds they need to effectively serve communities.
The sequester spending caps were originally put in place as part of a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit. However, the 2014 budget deficit was less than 3% of gross domestic product, or GDP—down significantly from levels it reached in the Great Recession and its immediate aftermath.
Please support increasing the sequester spending caps, so that our nation doesn’t lose ground in our efforts to make sure that everyone has access to affordable housing.
TAKE ACTION
The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill and amendments to it on Thursday, June 25. Please contact the offices of Senator Durbin and Senator Kirk ask them to oppose the Senate THUD bill because of major cuts to programs like HOME. In addition, ask them to support increasing the sequester spending caps.
Click here to take action.