On our most recent (April 11) national call for the “HoUSed: Universal, Stable, and Affordable Housing” campaign, we discussed the latest guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) on emergency rental assistance (ERA) reallocation and recapture, shared a new report on the effects of multifamily housing speculation, discussed NLIHC’s Our Homes, Our Votes campaign, and received updates about field operations in the District of Columbia, Alabama, and Chicago.
NLIHC’s Sarah Saadian shared updates on the fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations process and reconciliation negotiations. After the “Build Back Better Act” stalled last year in the Senate (see Memo, 12/20/21), congressional Democrats are reviving negotiations on a “slimmed down” reconciliation package that could win the vote of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, the lone Democrat hold-out in the Senate, while also maintaining support from the rest of the party. Because of the evenly divided Senate and narrow margin in the House, any package put forward will need the support of every Senate Democrat and nearly every House Democrat to be enacted. With negotiations once again underway, it is vital that advocates continue calling their members of Congress to demand they include NLIHC’s top policy priorities in any final reconciliation package:
- $25 billion to expand housing vouchers to more than 300,000 households.
- $65 billion to preserve public housing for its 2 million residents.
- $15 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build, preserve, and operate more than 150,000 units of affordable, accessible homes for households with the lowest incomes.
Vikram Viswanathan and Jacob Leibenluft from Treasury discussed the latest guidance on ERA2 reallocation and spending. David Greenberg of Local Initiatives Support Corporation presented a new report, “The Impact of Multifamily Housing Speculation on Low-Income and BIPOC Communities,” which found greater speculative activity in lower-income Black and Latino neighborhoods with signs of gentrification. Researchers concluded that housing speculation “demonstrably harms the tenants” already living in these neighborhoods.
NLIHC’s Courtney Cooperman provided an update on NLIHC’s Our Homes, Our Votes campaign, a non-partisan campaign to increase voter registration and turnout among residents of low-income housing. The next installment of the campaign’s bi-weekly webinar series will be today (April 18). Register for today’s Our Homes, Our Votes webinar here.
Susan Jacob of Housing Counseling Services in Washington, DC, discussed her organization’s Eviction Diversion Framework and ERA program, which have helped 70% of tenants behind on rent avoid eviction. Jay Williams from the Low-Income Housing Coalition of Alabama shared the organization’s 2022 Advocacy Toolkit, and Mark Swartz from the Chicago-based Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing shared findings from the Chicago Evictions Data Portal.
National calls now take place every other week. Our next call will be held on April 25 from 2:30 to 4:00 pm ET. Register for the call at: tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Watch a recording of the April 11 call at: tinyurl.com/4apj42r2
View presentation slides from the April 11 call at: tinyurl.com/5n75hpkx