NLIHC hosted a national HoUSed campaign call on April 24. Attendees heard the latest news from Capitol Hill regarding U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) harmful proposal to lift the federal debt limit in exchange for dramatic cuts to domestic spending, including funding for HUD’s and USDA’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs. Kayla Gilchrist and Jennifer Cossyleon of Community Change discussed their organization’s Grassroots Housing Justice Tour, and John Bae of the Vera Institute of Justice provided an overview of a new report on state housing finance agency (HFA) screening policies for people with conviction histories. We received field updates from Cathy Alderman of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Joanna Carr of the Arizona Housing Coalition. NLIHC Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Field Organizing Sarah Saadian and NLIHC Manager of Field Organizing Brooke Schipporeit also joined the call to share how advocates can take action to oppose deep budget cuts and urge Congress to invest in affordable housing and homelessness programs at the scale needed.
A recording of the call, as well as the presentation slides, are now available.
Join NLIHC’s biweekly national HoUSed campaign call every other Monday at 2:30 pm ET to learn more about how to advance long-term solutions to end the housing crisis and achieve housing justice. The next national call will be held on May 8 from 2:30-4 pm ET. Register for the call here: https://tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Resources discussed on the 4/24 call:
- New Report on State HFA Screening Policies for People with Conviction Histories – John Bae, Vera Institute of Justice
- Grassroots Housing Justice Tour, Sign-On, and Toolkit – Kayla Gilchrist & Jennifer Cossyleon, Community Change
- Field Update – Cathy Alderman, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH)
- Policy and Advocacy Updates – Sarah Saadian & Brooke Schipporeit, NLIHC
- Read about Speaker McCarthy’s harmful proposal to impose deep cuts on domestic spending.
- Email your members of Congress today and urge them to increase – not cut – resources for affordable housing and homelessness in FY24 and to support NLIHC’s top appropriations priorities!
- Sign your organization on to the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding’s (CHCDF) annual budget letter.
- Use NLIHC’s advocacy toolkit, “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing,” for talking points, sample social media messages, and ideas about other ways to get involved!
- NLIHC “Spring into Action”: Participate in NLIHC’s two-week mobilization effort between May 8 and May 19 to oppose deep budget cuts!