On May 3, 2,422 national, state, local, and regional organizations, as well as local officials and governments, sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators that calls for an increase to the FY14 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) 302(b) subcommittee allocations (see Memo, 4/26). The letter was coordinated by the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), and calls for an increase to the THUD allocation, noting the importance of affordable housing, community development and transportation funding to low income households and underserved communities. “As members of the Appropriations Committees, and more importantly as elected representatives of your hometowns, we urge you to take a stand for investing in the success of America’s communities by increasing the 302(b) allocation to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee to the highest possible level in FY 2014,” write the organizations. The letter warns that the major cut to federal support for the production and preservation of affordable housing “is likely to result in more than 100,000 low-income families losing rental assistance and recent progress in reducing chronic homelessness being reversed.” In 2012, a group of 1,700 advocates sent a similar letter to appropriators requesting an increase in the FY13 THUD allocation. The first step in congressional appropriations work is for the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations to divide the total spending amount provided for the fiscal year among the 12 appropriations subcommittees. The THUD subcommittee allocations determine the overall amount of funding that appropriators have to spend on discretionary funded programs for the Departments of Transportation and HUD. The House and Senate are expected to set their 302(b) allocations in May. View the letter with the 2,422 signatories at: http://bit.ly/YpL1zr