NLIHC joined national partners on April 26 for a rally and press conference on Capitol Hill opposing the severe cuts to domestic spending programs – including HUD’s and USDA’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs – proposed by U.S. House of Representatives Republicans in their debt ceiling plan.
Organized by leading faith-based organizations, including the Friends Committee on National Legislation and NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, the rally brought together faith leaders, service providers, and advocates from across sectors who are united in opposition to the “Limit, Save, and Grow Act,” the debt ceiling plan proposed by House Republicans. The plan would enact massive spending cuts to domestic programs in exchange for temporarily lifting the nation’s debt ceiling.
“Across the nation, rents are exorbitant, eviction filings have increased, homelessness is on the rise, and millions of the lowest-income renters are just one financial shock away from falling behind on rent and losing their homes,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in a press release for the event. “Yet House Republicans propose to slash funding for programs that help households with the lowest incomes keep a roof over their heads. It is unacceptable to cut critically needed affordable housing and homelessness resources for the households who need them most.”
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations, joined the rally as well, calling on advocates to “push back on what [Democrats] are calling the ‘Default on America Act’” by letting leaders in Congress “know the full brunt of what their districts face if these cuts go through.”
Kim Johnson, public policy manager at NLIHC, offered remarks on behalf of the organization, laying out the impact of the proposed cuts on HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs: “If this dangerous bill were enacted, nearly 1 million households currently receiving rental assistance through HUD’s programs would lose the assistance they need to keep a roof over their heads; nearly 120,000 fewer people experiencing homelessness would receive the help they need to find safe, stable, affordable, accessible housing; and millions of families with young children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities would lose the critical assistance they rely on for stable housing, pushing them into eviction and, in the worst cases, homelessness.”
In addition to its devastating impact on affordable housing and homelessness programs, the debt ceiling proposal would have a tremendously negative effect on other national priorities, including access to healthcare, food assistance, and income security and would further exacerbate existing racial and social inequities.
Watch a recording of the “Care, Not Cuts” rally at: https://bit.ly/3oS40HR
Learn more about the devastating impacts the proposed cuts would have on HUD’s affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs at: https://bit.ly/3Lxqc34