Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law on December 21 a bill to temporarily extend funding for the federal government and provide much needed assistance to communities and individuals impacted by recent disasters. The bill passed both chambers with bipartisan support, first in the House by a vote of 366-34 and then in the Senate with a final vote of 85-11.
The agreement extends funding for federal programs until March 14, 2025, averting a government shutdown. It also provides approximately $110 billion in disaster relief, including $29 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund and $12 billion for HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. FEMA is responsible for responding to the immediate needs of disaster survivors, including safe shelter and temporary housing, while CDBG-DR plays a crucial role in long-term disaster recovery, financing the construction and preservation of affordable housing and other infrastructure in disaster-impacted areas.
Foreshadowing Future Funding Fights
Disagreements within the Republican party over whether to include an extension of the debt ceiling in the package – a demand of President-elect Donald Trump – stalled negotiations last week. The “debt ceiling” is the legal limit on how much money the U.S. can borrow to pay for programs and services for which Congress has already approved spending. The current debt ceiling expires in 2025.
In response to the President-elect’s demands, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pulled an initial bipartisan agreement from consideration before it could receive a vote and brought forth instead a “slimmed-down” bill that included a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling. The proposal, however, failed to garner the support it needed to pass the House, receiving a final vote of 174-235. The final agreement passed in the House does not include a debt ceiling extension.
Conservative Republicans argued against extending the debt ceiling without including spending cuts. In the House, Speaker Johnson vowed to increase the debt limit by $1.5 trillion next year and seek $2.5 trillion in spending cuts, using a process known as “budget reconciliation” that requires only a simple majority of 51 votes for a bill to pass the Senate, rather than the 60 votes usually required, but that comes with certain limitations on the kinds of policies that can be included. With majorities in both the House and Senate, reconciliation would allow Republicans to pass bills without Democratic input.
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 and expand assistance to 20,000 more households.
- $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.