By Kim Johnson, NLIHC Senior Director of Policy
Members of the House and Senate left their offices on Capitol Hill to return to their home states and districts until September 2, a period known as “August recess.” August recess is a great time for advocates to take action on federal affordable housing and homelessness priorities, including fighting for needed investments in HUD’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bill.
Take Action!
Congress has until October 1—the beginning of the federal fiscal year—to draft, negotiate, and pass final FY26 spending bills. Without a final spending agreement, Congress will need to enact a short-term funding patch known as a continuing resolution (CR) to maintain funding for federal programs and avoid a partial federal government shutdown. While Republicans control both the House and the Senate, any spending bill needs at least 60 votes to pass the Senate, so final appropriations bills will need bipartisan support to be enacted.
Keep the pressure on your representatives by contacting your members of Congress and urging them to protect and expand investments in vital affordable housing and homelessness programs! August recess is a great time to share with your federal elected officials the important work being done with HUD funding and to highlight the need for increased investments to ensure the continuation of vital programs and services.
Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY26 funding, including by:
- Using NLIHC’s advocacy toolkit, “Opposing Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing,” to call on Congress to protect and expand affordable housing and homelessness resources, including NLIHC’s priorities:
- At least $35.65 billion to renew all existing TBRA contracts, plus urgently needed funding to ensure the 59,000 households who rely on an EHV to keep a roof over their heads do not lose their assistance.
- $5.7 billion for public housing operations, and at least $5 billion to address public housing capital needs.
- $4.922 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.
- $15 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program (EPGP), as provided in the Senate’s spending bill.
- At least $1.3 billion for HUD’s Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program and $150 million for IHBG-C funds targeted to Tribes with the greatest needs.
The toolkit includes talking points, advocacy materials, engagement ideas, and more resources for advocates to weigh-in with their members of Congress on the importance of these vital resources!
- 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.
National, state, local, Tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,700 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 FY26.
Visit NLIHC’s Advocacy Hub for more information and resources that can help you take action and help protect the affordable housing programs people rely on.