Forty-four national organizations sent a letter to White House officials on August 23 calling for funding for the NHTF in President Obama’s jobs package. The groups asked for $10 billion, citing evidence that such an investment would create 122,000 new jobs in the construction trades and 30,000 ongoing jobs in housing operations.

The President is expected to announce a multi-pronged jobs strategy immediately after Labor Day. Unions and other progressive advocates are pushing for public works and other direct investment in jobs now.

The letter on the NHTF was sent to Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council. The signatories of the letter are:

• Catholic Charities USA
• Center for Community Change
• Coalition on Human Needs
• Community Action Partnership
• Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force
• Corporation for Supportive Housing
• Enterprise Community Partners
• Friends Committee on National Legislation
• Housing Assistance Council
• Housing Partnership Network
• Jesuit Conference
• Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• LeadingAge
• Lutheran Services in America
• Mercy Housing
• Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Washington Office
• NAACP
• National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
• National AIDS Housing Coalition
• National Alliance to End Homelessness
• National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
• National Center for Healthy Housing
• National Center on Family Homelessness
• National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
• National Coalition for Community Reinvestment
• National Coalition for the Homeless
• National Council of La Raza
• National Council on Independent Living
• National Fair Housing Alliance
• National Health Care for the Homeless Council
• National Housing Conference
• National Housing Law Project
• National Housing Trust
• National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
• National Low Income Housing Coalition
• NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
• PolicyLink
• Poverty & Race Research Action Council
• Sisters of Mercy Institute Justice Team
• Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future
• Technical Assistance Collaborative
• The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
• Union for Reform Judaism
• United Way Worldwide
• Volunteers of America

To read the letter, go to www.nhtf.org