WASHINGTON, D.C.- The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) applauds President Obama’s request for almost $11 billion in new funding over ten years to address homelessness in the United States. In his FY17 budget proposal sent to Congress today, the President is asking for the resources to continue his commitment to ending homelessness that he made in the second year of his Administration. The funds would be used for housing vouchers and rapid rehousing for homeless families and individuals. The Administration estimates that with this level of funding 550,000 households will no longer be homeless. The budget also calls for a substantial increase in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs.
“The number of people who are homeless on any given night in our country should shame even the most conservative budget hawks,” said NLIHC President and CEO Sheila Crowley. “The homeless state of emergency in many parts of the U.S. calls out for this bold initiative by our President.”
The FY17 proposed budget estimates that $182 million will be available in calendar year 2016 for the National Housing Trust Fund (NTHF). The NHTF, which HUD will implement for the first time this year, provides the first new federal resources in a generation for the production of rental housing for the lowest income people in America. The funds are from a small assessment on the volume of business conducted in 2015 by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The exact level of funding for the NHTF for 2016 will be made public at the end of February when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to report how much will be transferred to HUD to distribute to states.
Two of the three largest federal affordable housing programs, Housing Choice Vouchers and Project Based Rental Assistance, are funded in the President’s budget at levels that appear to be sufficient to continue to support existing residents. Also included in the Housing Voucher account is a new mobility counseling program to assist voucher holders in moving to better communities.
But public housing, the third major program that provides deeply affordable homes to 1.1 million seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children, remains inadequately funded with only minimal new resources. Other housing programs would receive level funding or small increases.
NLIHC will work with our many partner agencies to achieve the best possible HUD budget for FY17.
Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest income in the United States have affordable and decent homes
National Low Income Housing Coalition
1000 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005
202/662-1530; Fax 202/393-1973; [email protected] www.nlihc.org