House Considering Two-Month Federal Funding Extension This Week—Take Action!

By Kim Johnson, NLIHC Senior Director of Policy 

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on an agreement to provide temporary funding to keep federal programs and services running at the end of the month. Congress has until September 30—the end of fiscal year (FY) 2025—to reach a temporary funding agreement, known as a “continuing resolution,” or CR, and avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government. 

CRs extend the previously appropriated level of funding for federal programs, giving Congress additional time to reach a bipartisan spending agreement for the new fiscal year. However, because CRs provide flat funding—and because the cost of rental and homelessness assistance increases every year—a long-term CR acts as a cut to HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs, reducing the number of people and communities served.  

While the White House is pushing Congress to extend funding until January 31, 2026, Appropriators are expected to put forward a CR lasting until November or December. Despite previous reporting, the CR is not expected to carry with it three of the nine FY26 appropriations bills Congress was hoping to pass along with the CR; rather, the CR will likely be “clean,” without any partisan policy riders or amendments that would slow down the process of reaching a bipartisan agreement.  

The White House also sent Congress an anomalies request on September 9, outlining certain programs the White House would like Congress to provide additional funding for in the event of a CR. Included in the request is language that would give HUD permission to repurpose funding from certain accounts to help cover the cost of voucher renewals. However, there is nothing included in the anomalies request, CR, or the House’s and Senate’s FY26 spending bills that would be sufficient to cover needed renewal funding for HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) programs.  

The Need for Additional Funding for Voucher Renewals  

While both the House and Senate FY26 THUD spending bills both reject the drastic spending cuts and programmatic overhauls proposed in President Trump’s FY26 budget request, neither spending bill provides sufficient funding to ensure renewal of all existing HCVs or EHVs. Without sufficient funding, vouchers will be lost through attrition—when a household no longer needs their voucher, the voucher cannot be reissued to a new family because it is no longer attached to funding. When renewal funding is insufficient—or when funding is cut—households that rely on a voucher to keep a roof over their heads actively lose their rental assistance, putting them at risk for housing instability, eviction, and in the worst cases, homelessness.  

At current funding levels, over 2.4 million households receive rental assistance, accounting for just one in four households who qualify. Under the House’s FY26 spending bill, an estimated 181,900 fewer households would be served; in the Senate, 107,800 fewer households would receive rental assistance. The loss of these vouchers would disproportionately affect older adults, people with disabilities, and families with children.  

Take Action 

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-Competitive 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.