The deadline to sign your organization onto a letter urging Congress to increase funding to the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF) is Wednesday, February 7. Sign the letter today telling Congress to expand the national HTF to at least $3.5 billion annually in comprehensive housing finance reform legislation as part of a broad commitment to access and affordability in the housing market. Increased funding for the HTF is critically important to addressing homelessness and housing poverty in America.
The HTF is the first new federal housing resource in a generation exclusively targeted to help build and preserve housing affordable to people with the lowest incomes. The HTF is currently funded by a small assessment on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s annual book of business, but far greater resources are needed to meet the need. According to NLIHC’s The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes report, there are just 35 rental homes affordable and available to every 100 extremely low income households in the U.S. As a result, 71% of these households pay more than half of their limited incomes on rent, forcing them to make impossible trade-offs between paying rent and buying groceries, seeing a doctor, or saving for college or an emergency. In the worst cases, they become homeless.
In 2014, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee voted to support housing finance reform legislation introduced by then-Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) that would have increased funding for the HTF to an estimated $3.5 billion annually. This should be the starting point for any new legislation considered by Congress.
Members of the Senate Banking Committee are currently drafting housing finance reform legislation that limits funding for the HTF. Help us demonstrate the overwhelming support for this essential program by signing your organization onto the letter by Wednesday, February 7.
Thank you for your support of this critical program.