House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) pledged earlier this week to enact legislation to raise the country’s debt limit in exchange for steep spending cuts to domestic programs, including HUD’s and USDA’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs. While details are not fully known, Speaker McCarthy’s proposal would likely cap federal domestic spending for fiscal year (FY) 2024 at FY22 levels, resulting in at least a 23% reduction in funding for key programs, depending on how the cuts are designed. The proposal would limit future spending increases to 1% annually for 10 years, rescind unspent COVID-19 relief funds, and put in place rigid work requirements for some anti-poverty programs, among other harmful provisions. The House is expected to vote on the harmful legislative package as soon as next week. Advocates should contact their representatives to urge them to oppose deep spending cuts and to support the highest level of funding possible for housing and homelessness programs.
Take Action!
It is unacceptable to balance the federal budget by slashing programs that help the lowest-income households survive. Without adequate funding for vital federal affordable housing and homeless assistance programs, millions of the lowest-income and most marginalized households will continue to experience homelessness or remain at risk, paying more than half of their limited income on rent.
Advocates can take action in the following ways:
- Sign your organization on to the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding’s (CHCDF) annual budget letter, calling on Congress to reject spending cuts and instead provide the highest possible allocation for HUD’s and USDA’s affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs in FY24.
- Email your members of Congress today and urge them to increase – not cut – resources for affordable housing and homelessness in FY24 and to support NLIHC’s top appropriations priorities:
- $32.7 billion for the TBRA program to renew existing vouchers and to expand the program to an additional 200,000 households.
- $5.4 billion for public housing operations and $5 billion for public housing repairs.
- $3.8 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants program.
- $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions.
- $3 billion for a permanent Emergency Rental Assistance program.
- $300 million for the competitive tribal housing grants, targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
- Check out NLIHC’s advocacy toolkit, “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing,” for talking points, sample social media messages, and more!
Background
Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans are calling for severe funding cuts to domestic programs, including affordable housing and homelessness programs, in the FY24 appropriations bill and beyond. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a legislative package that would dramatically cut domestic spending as soon as next week.
While details are unclear, reports suggest that the Republican proposal will cap funding in FY24 at FY22 levels, resulting in an estimated $133 billion cut to domestic programs. Analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that cutting funding to FY22 levels could result in a 23% reduction in funding for domestic programs if defense and veteran health programs are exempted. The proposal would also limit future spending increases to 1% annually for 10 years, rescind unspent COVID-19 relief funds, and put in place rigid work requirements for some anti-poverty programs, among other harmful provisions.
In a recent analysis, HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge stated that, if enacted, such a proposal would “represent the most devastating impacts in HUD’s history” and “make it impossible to stave off mass evictions.” Among other consequences, Secretary Fudge noted that the proposal would:
- Eliminate Housing Choice Voucher funding for 350,000 families, increasing the likelihood these families will experience housing instability, evictions, and, in the worst cases, homelessness.
- Eliminate funding for an estimated 87,000 families who rely on the Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program for housing assistance. Moreover, because PBRA helps finance housing maintenance and operations, terminating PBRA contracts would also likely lead owners to convert their affordable housing to market-rate housing, representing “an historically unprecedented loss of existing affordable housing.”
- Cut funding for HUD’s homeless assistance programs, resulting in an estimated 78,000 fewer people experiencing homelessness receiving vital services from homelessness assistance programs, “likely leading to large increases in the number of people sleeping on the streets.”
- Exacerbate the affordable housing crisis in Native communities by cutting significant funding from the Native American Housing Block Grants program, which finances the construction, operation, and preservation of affordable housing units on Tribal lands.
- Increase low-income families’ exposure to lead and other health hazards by slashing funding from HUD’s Lead Hazard Controls and Healthy Homes programs, and reducing funding for HUD’s public housing operating funds.
Call and email your members of Congress TODAY and urge them to reject this devastating proposal! Thank you for your advocacy!