House Passes First Appropriations Bill with Conservative Amendments, Foreshadowing Contentious FY25 Process Ahead

The U.S. House of Representatives passed on June 5 the first of 12 annual spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025. The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (Mil-Con/VA) bill, which passed by a vote of 209-197, is viewed by appropriators as one of the “easier” bills to move with bipartisan support. However, the bill was supported by only four Democrats in the chamber, while two Republicans voted against the measure, suggesting a hard road ahead for passage of future FY25 spending bills.

In addition to funding for the upcoming fiscal year, House Republicans loaded the bill with partisan amendments – known as “policy riders” – that stand no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. Moderate Republicans had been urging their colleagues to forgo adding the contentious amendments to the bills in order to move the FY25 drafting process forward as smoothly as possible.

The House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) is expected to hold a review of the FY25 spending bill for THUD programs on June 27, with a full committee review slated for July 10 and a vote on the House floor scheduled for the week of July 29. While the Appropriations Committee has yet to release its proposed bills, the committee recently approved along a party line vote topline spending allocations that would slash funding for THUD programs by 10% in the coming fiscal year (see Memo, 5/28).

Funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs must increase every year to maintain the number of people and communities served. Cuts to programs like Housing Choice Vouchers, Project-Based Rental Assistance, and Homelessness Assistance Grants also result in cuts to 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.