Congress has passed and President Biden has signed into law a continuing resolution (CR) that will extend funding for the federal government until December 20 and provide minimal needed spending adjustments for certain programs to ensure that they receive adequate funding to operate for the duration of the CR (known as “anomalies”). Passage of the CR ensures that the federal government will not be forced into a partial shutdown when the new fiscal year (FY) begins on October 1.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) negotiated the bipartisan CR after Speaker Johnson’s partisan proposal failed twice to garner the support needed to pass the House (see Memo, 9/23). The bipartisan proposal passed the House on September 25 by a vote of 341 to 82 and passed the Senate later that day with a final vote of 78 to 18. With a CR enacted, members of Congress left their offices on Capitol Hill for a campaigning recess in the run-up to the November elections. Congress will return to session on November 12 and will have until December 20 to negotiate bipartisan spending agreements on all 12 FY2025 spending bills, including the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bill that funds HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs.
Take Action!
While Congress has avoided a shutdown, advocates should continue pressing their members of Congress to enact a final FY25 spending bill that provides increased funding for HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs. Inadequate funding, long-term CRs, and government shutdowns have serious consequences for HUD programs: because the cost of housing and homelessness programs rise every year, it is vital these programs receive increased funding every year just to maintain current levels of assistance.
Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and push Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including 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 Protection Grant Program.
- At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY25 funding, including 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!
- 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.
- Using our “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing” toolkit: This toolkit includes resources, talking points, advocacy ideas, and other helpful information on defending funding for affordable housing and homelessness resources in the FY25 federal budget. Meet with your members and urge them to provide the most possible funding for these vital programs in any final FY25 budget agreement!
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.