Negotiations over a final fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding bill have once again been derailed in the wake of the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze funding for thousands of federal programs, including HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs. Appropriators were aiming to reach a topline spending deal for FY25 by the beginning of February in order to have enough time to draft, debate, and pass the 12 annual spending bills by the March 14 deadline.
The move to freeze federal funding disrupted negotiations, sowing distrust between Democrats and Republicans on the appropriations committee. “It is extremely difficult to agree to a compromise on anything if the White House is going to assert they control the funds, [and] we don’t,” said Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA). “So this is really putting that in jeopardy.”
Absent a final FY25 agreement by March 14, Congress will need to enact another continuing resolution (CR) to extend federal funding and avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government. Congress will have until the end of April to reach a final FY25 agreement; under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, failure to enact final FY25 spending bills will result in mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts, known as “sequestration.”
Take Action!
Urge Congress to pass a final FY25 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs
Insufficient funding, budget cuts, and long-term CRs have a devastating impact on affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs. CRs maintain spending levels from the previous fiscal year, but because the cost of affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs rises every year, increased annual funding for HUD programs is required to simply maintain the number of people served by these vital programs.
Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and push Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including for NLIHC’s top priorities:
- Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
- $6.2 billion for public housing operations and $5.2 billion for public housing capital needs.
- $4.7 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.
- $100 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program.
- At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY25 funding, including by:
- Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly!
- Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.
- Using our “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing” toolkit: This toolkit includes resources, talking points, advocacy ideas, and other helpful information on defending funding for affordable housing and homelessness resources in the FY25 federal budget. Meet with your members and urge them to provide the most possible funding for these vital programs in any final FY25 budget agreement!
National, state, local, tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,300 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY25.