The U.S. House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) is expected to release its draft fiscal year (FY) 2025 spending bill for HUD programs this week, with a review of the proposal scheduled for June 27. The full House Appropriations Committee aims to consider the bill on July 10 and hold a vote on the House floor during the week of July 29, before Congress breaks for August recess.
The Committee approved along a party line vote last month topline spending allocations that would slash funding for THUD programs by 10% in the coming fiscal year (see Memo, 5/28). While it is not clear how funding will be distributed between HUD and U.S. Department of Transportation programs, or how the Subcommittee will allocate funding to individual HUD programs, advocates expect the draft to propose drastic cuts to many HUD programs. NLIHC will provide an analysis of the House’s FY25 draft bill after it is released.
Meanwhile, most Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittees are still waiting on their topline funding allocations, also known as “302(b)s.” The Senate hopes to draft, release, and review its FY25 proposals in July. On June 14, the Senate’s Committee on Armed Services voted 22-3 to advance a defense funding bill that would provide $28 billion more than the spending limit allowed under the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), the agreement reached last year to raise the federal debt ceiling in exchange for imposing caps on federal spending in FY24 and FY25. Senate Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), are insisting that any increase to defense spending above the mandated caps must be paired with an equal increase to domestic spending.
“To increase funding for the Department of Defense, Congress would have to either repeal the spending caps, or reach a new budget agreement,” said Majority Leader Schumer in a statement. “In that case, Democrats are committed to ensuring an equitable increase in our domestic investments alongside an increase in defense spending.”
“Falling short means thousands of families will lose [rental] assistance, and may face eviction,” said Chair Murray in a speech on the Senate floor. “I can’t emphasize enough that, under the caps for nondefense, everything struggles to keep up with rising costs. Programs our kids, the future of our country, depend on, can’t get by on once percent,” she said, referring to the one percent increase in domestic spending afforded under the FRA.
Providing funding in FY25 over limits imposed by the FRA will be crucial to ensuring domestic programs – including HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs – have sufficient funding in the coming year to continue operation. Funding for HUD’s programs must increase every year to maintain the number of people and communities served. Cuts to programs like Housing Choice Vouchers, Public Housing, and Homelessness Assistance Grants also reduce assistance to people who rely on these programs to keep a roof over their head, putting them at risk of housing insecurity, eviction, and, in the worst cases, homelessness.
Take Action: Tell Congress to Provide Significant Funding Increases for HUD in FY25
Your advocacy makes a difference! It is thanks to the hard work of advocates that in FY24 – at a time when programs faced cuts of up 25% – HUD received increased funding in the final spending bill.
Congress needs to keep hearing from you about the importance of affordable housing and homelessness programs! NLIHC is calling on Congress to provide the highest possible funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs in FY25, including significant funding 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 Prevention Grant Program.
- At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
Advocates can continue to 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 2,300 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.