Congress passed and President Biden signed into law on January 18 another short-term continuing resolution (CR) that will extend funding for HUD programs through March 1, at which point Congress will need to finalize its fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending bills, pass another CR, or face a partial shutdown of the federal government. NLIHC and our colleagues at the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF) will host a National Day of Action on January 25 calling on advocates around the country to mobilize and contact their members of Congress to demand increased funding for HUD and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs in the final FY24 spending bills.
The CHCDF, a coalition of more than 70 national organizations working to secure increased federal funding for HUD and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs, represents a full continuum of national housing and community development organizations, including faith-based, private sector, financial/intermediary, public sector, and advocacy groups.
Take Action on January 25!
Congress needs to hear from you about the importance of affordable housing and homelessness programs! That’s why we are asking advocates to contact their members of Congress on January 25 and demand increased investments for affordable housing and homelessness in the 2024 budget.
Specifically, NLIHC is calling on Congress to provide in this year’s budget:
- Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
- Full funding for public housing operations and repairs.
- The Senate’s proposed funding for Homeless Assistance Grants.
- The protection of $20 million in funding in the Senate bill for legal assistance to prevent evictions.
- The House’s proposed funding level for Native housing.
The significant increase in the cost of rent has pushed up the cost of renewing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. As a result, neither the House nor Senate draft FY24 spending bills for HUD provide sufficient funding to renew all Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) contracts upon turnover. As a result, when a household no longer needs a voucher, the voucher will expire rather than being re-issued to another household in need. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimates that, at levels provided in the Senate bill, 80,000 vouchers would be lost, and at levels provided in the House bill 112,000 vouchers would be lost upon turnover.
Advocates can join the National Day of Action on January 25 and engage their members of Congress 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!
- Using social media to amplify messages about the country’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis, and the continued need for long-term solutions.
- 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 2,100 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 FY24.
Check out NLIHC’s Day of Action Toolkit for more ideas, including sample social media posts, talking points, resources, and more!