NLIHC’s President and CEO Diane Yentel sent a letter to President Joe Biden and HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge on January 26 urging the administration to provide robust funding for HUD programs in the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request.
Advocates and congressional champions secured nearly $85 billion in vital emergency housing and homelessness assistance over the last two years, but these historic resources do not offer a long-term solution to the nation’s chronic affordable housing crisis. Robust and continued funding – enacted through the annual appropriations process and/or the “Build Back Better Act” – is necessary to address the severe shortage of accessible, affordable homes available to households with the lowest incomes. With the Build Back Better Act facing an uncertain future, the administration should work to formulate a strong FY23 budget request for affordable housing programs.
“We were pleased to see the 15% increase to HUD’s budget proposed in the president’s FY22 budget request, including the expansion of rental assistance through HUD’s Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program to 200,000 additional households,” wrote Diane Yentel in the letter. “Now, we are calling on the administration to push for at least the same level of expansion in affordable housing for the nation’s lowest-income households in order to put the country on a path towards ending homelessness and housing poverty once and for all.”
Read the full letter at: https://tinyurl.com/yspzkp2t