The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) voted to approve its FY20 spending bill on May 23. Members did not submit any amendments during the vote but may do so when the bill goes to the full House Appropriations Committee following the Memorial Day recess.
Thanks to the leadership of House Subcommittee Chair David Price (D-NC) and Ranking Member Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), the House bill is a clear rejection of President Trump’s position on affordable housing investments and policy. The bill provides HUD programs with more than $13.4 billion above the president’s FY20 request and at least $5.9 billion above FY19 enacted levels. It also clearly rebukes the harmful rent increases, rigid work requirements, and de facto time limits proposed by the president in his past budget requests and in subsequent legislation. Moreover, the subcommittee included legislative language to halt cruel proposals from the president to evict mixed-status immigrant families from assisted housing and to roll back LGBT protections. Overall, the House subcommittee bill builds on the funding increases and policy wins advocates and congressional champions secured in recent years.
Subcommittee Chair Price outlined the bill’s priorities for improving infrastructure – including housing – and safety while protecting vulnerable populations by increasing funding for public housing repairs and maintenance, HOME dollars, and lead and carbon monoxide remediation. Ranking Member Diaz-Balart called the proposal “the real infrastructure bill,” but stated that until Congress reaches a budget deal, the committee was working with “fake numbers.” House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey praised the subcommittee for a bill that acknowledges that “housing is the foundation in which lives are built” and protects vulnerable populations from eviction.
Read the text of the proposed bill at: https://bit.ly/2YGNmZr
Watch the archived webcast of the subcommittee vote at: https://bit.ly/2HNqiBr
Read NLIHC’s analysis of the bill at: https://bit.ly/2HwEvnC
Review NLIHC’s budget chart at: https://bit.ly/2rl7MZC