In response to opposition from centrist Democratic Senators Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) to the cost of the reconciliation package, negotiators in the House, Senate and White House are working on a pared-down Build Back Better Act that would total between $1.5-2 trillion. Decisions are being made now on what provisions will make it into the final package.
NLIHC, advocates around the country, and affordable housing champions in Congress have mobilized to stop negotiators from squandering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end homelessness. Thanks to the leadership of House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), all of the committee’s Democrats joined an October 6 letter to President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reiterating the importance of including targeted affordable housing investments in the reconciliation bill.
“As members of the House Financial Services Committee, we can affirm that a comprehensive approach to infrastructure includes a robust investment in our nation’s affordable housing stock and that a comprehensive approach to our social safety net includes investment in affordable housing,” wrote the committee Democrats. “Housing is health care, it is stability for children, it is climate justice, and it is racial justice. This is an investment that simply cannot wait and must be included at robust levels in the budget reconciliation package.”
Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is also leading a Dear Colleague Letter, currently signed by 67 members of Congress, to show widespread congressional support for the HoUSed campaign’s essential investments to end homelessness, including $90 billion to expand rental assistance to households with the lowest incomes; $80 billion to make desperately needed repairs to public housing; and $37 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build, preserve, and operate deeply affordable, accessible housing.
Advocates should contact their senators and representatives TODAY and urge them to ensure that any cuts to the reconciliation bill do not come at the expense of proven housing solutions for those with the greatest needs and to provide the highest possible funding levels for the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities. Together these investments could effectively end homelessness in the U.S. Any cuts to funding for these priority programs means fewer people safely and affordably housed.
Take Action
- Urge your representative to sign onto a Dear Colleague Letter to show their support for these essential investments to end homelessness by COB, October 13!
- Contact your senators and representatives and urge them to weigh in IMMEDIATELY with the White House, Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Schumer in support of funding the HoUSed campaign’s priorities at the highest level.
- Join nearly 1,700 organizations nationwide by signing the HoUSed campaign letter. This letter is one of the most effective ways to show congressional leaders the broad support for the HoUSed campaign’s priorities for the infrastructure/economic recovery bill. Sign on to the letter here.
Thank you for your advocacy!