We appeal to your organization to help us demonstrate strong support nationwide for bringing an end to federal sequester caps that are placing unreasonable spending limits on housing and community development programs in next year’s federal budget.
As you may know, the current budget framework under which the House and Senate are writing their appropriations bills abides by the sequestered Budget Control Act (BCA) caps passed in 2011. Funding at these levels fail to make the necessary nondefense discretionary (NDD) investments that protect all Americans and promote a strong economy.
NDD programs range from education and job training, to housing and science, to natural resources and veterans services, to public health, safety and security. Current NDD funding is the lowest level on record dating back to the Eisenhower administration, relative to the size of the economy.
Just one example of how the sequester caps are impacting the budgets proposed by Congress is the suggested funding for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME). In the House budget, funding is cut to $767 million—$133 million less than its already record-low funding of $900 million in FY 2015 and 52% less than its FY 2011 allocation. The Senate cuts HOME even more drastically, funding HOME at only $66 million to be divided by approximately 650 participating jurisdictions. Such a cut would, in effect, eliminate the program.
HOME is a highly successful locally driven affordable housing program that provides flexibility to states and localities so that they can address their most pressing affordable housing challenges, both rental and homeownership. HOME is important to the success of other housing programs, such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and rural housing programs, because it often provides essential soft funding to fill financing gaps and make affordable housing developments financially feasible. Since 1992, HOME funding received by the State of Illinois has helped create or preserve almost 13,000 affordable housing units.
If cuts and inadequate funding to HOME and other programs are to be avoided, Congress must work with the President to replace sequestration with a balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not include further cuts to NDD programs, which have already done their part to reduce the deficit.
It especially makes sense to lift the sequester spending caps, because as a share of the U.S. economy, the deficit is expected to be 2.5% in 2016, down from a high of 10% in 2009 following the Great Recession. Budget deficits are common; in the last half century, the U.S. ran a budget deficit in 44 out of 50 years. Budget deficits have averaged 3.1% of the U.S. economy since 1930.
We hope your organization will lend its voice to the fight against sequestration by signing on to a letter that will be delivered to members of Congress in September.
More than 1,600 organizations nationwide have already signed the letter. Please add your organization to the list!
Sign-On Deadline Extended!
The new deadline to sign on is Tuesday, September 1.
Click here to read the sign-on letter.
Click here to have your organization sign the letter (deadline has past).