The House of Representatives failed to vote on November 5 on the “Build Back Better Act,” a $1.75 trillion economic recovery package containing $150 billion in vital affordable housing and community development investments. Democratic centrists refused to vote on the bill without first receiving and analyzing a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the bill. The House instead passed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which the House had previously tied to the passage of Build Back Better as leverage to get the broader social spending bill passed. An agreement was reach between the progressives and moderates in the evening of November 5 to vote on the Build Back Better Act during the week of November 14.
Advocates should continue reaching out to your members of Congress and telling them to vote for the Build Back Better Act, including its funding for the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities:
- $25 billion to expand rental assistance to an estimated 300,000 new households;
- $65 billion to preserve the nation’s deteriorating public housing infrastructure; and
- $15 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve over 150,000 affordable, accessible homes for households with the lowest incomes.
For more details of the housing investments in the Build Back Better Act, see NLIHC’s full analysis.
Once the House votes to approve the bill, it will head to the Senate where policymakers will vote on amendments and the legislation. Because changes are likely to be made to the bill in the Senate, the bill must receive another vote in the House before it goes to the president’s desk for his signature.
Our fight to enact the Build Back Better Act - and the single largest federal investment in affordable housing in the nation’s history - is not over! Advocates should continue to email and call your members of Congress and urge them to vote yes on the Build Back Better Act.
Thank you for your advocacy!