NLIHC and Housing Advocates Provide Recommendations to Trump Transition Team

NLIHC and the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), a coalition of 70 national housing, homeless, and community development organizations working toward the highest possible funding for such programs, sent the Trump transition team separate memos outlining actions the new administration must take to end homelessness and housing poverty.

NLIHC’s memo highlights potential opportunities to protect and expand investments in affordable housing for families with the greatest needs, as well as ways to improve housing choice and mobility. The memo stresses that a comprehensive set of solutions are needed. The memo reads in part:

“Throughout the campaign, President-elect Trump has focused on the importance of rebuilding the American cities and communities. He proposed investing in our nation’s infrastructure in order to spur economic growth, create millions of new jobs, and increase wages for American workers. Both the Republican Party Platform and the House Republicans’ A Better Way Agenda commit to focusing resources on the people who need it the most and creating opportunities for low income families to escape poverty. For these reasons, protecting and increasing investments in affordable rental housing for extremely low income families should be a key priority of a Trump administration. NLIHC urges this administration to seize the opportunity to address the full scope of affordable housing challenges for families with the greatest needs.”

The CHCDF memo details ways the Trump administration can work with Congress to increase affordable housing resources through infrastructure investments, negotiations on spending caps, and tax reform. The memo reads in part:

“[T]he Trump administration must use every tool available to solve the problem. A comprehensive set of solutions to end housing insecurity in America includes: preserving and rehabilitating our nation’s existing affordable housing stock; increasing investment in the production of affordable housing for low income families; and expanding rental assistance and other housing programs that help make housing affordable. To this end, we wish to offer our recommendations on how the Trump administration can work to expand federal resources for proven and effective affordable housing programs that have helped millions of families break through the cycle of poverty and climb the ladder of economic success.”

CHCDF, coordinated by NLIHC, promotes strengthening existing affordable housing and community development programs in order to expand and preserve affordable and accessible housing options for low and moderate income families.

Read NLIHC’s transition memo at: http://bit.ly/2fJZ43s

Read CHCDF’s transition memo at: http://bit.ly/2fPH4Vs