In our most recent (January 24) national call for the “HoUSed: Universal, Stable, and Affordable Housing” campaign, we received updates on federal advocacy for the “Build Back Better Act” and fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations, discussed new research on the impact of evictions, shared insights from NLIHC’s new report on renter protections, and learned about field activities in California, Rhode Island, and North Dakota.
NLIHC’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy Sarah Saadian gave updates on the expected timeline for enacting the Build Back Better Act and the threats to the bill’s housing provisions. The bill currently provides over $150 billion in investments in affordable housing and community development, including significant funding for the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities: $25 billion to expand housing vouchers to an additional 300,000 households; $65 billion to make desperately needed repairs to public housing; and $15 billion to build, preserve, and operate 150,000 units of deeply affordable housing through the national Housing Trust Fund. The FY2022 appropriations bill offers another opportunity to secure significant resources for affordable housing, including an additional 125,000 housing vouchers that are part of the House bill (see Memo, 7/19/21). Sarah emphasized the continued advocacy needed to ensure the vital housing components remain in the Build Back Better Act and to secure the most possible funding for affordable housing programs in FY2022.
Next, Gillian Slee from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab presented research on the impact of evictions on voting. The research found that eviction has a powerful role in depressing community voter turnout and that more people would vote if they were stably housed. Policymakers should thus aim to increase housing stability and remove barriers to voting in order to increase access to the ballot box.
Gabriel Schwartz of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco then discussed his research on the impact of evictions on access to healthcare services like Medicaid. The research found evicted patients were 63% more likely to lose their Medicaid within 6 months of experiencing eviction and patients who were evicted but able to receive healthcare spent 20% more on healthcare costs. These findings suggest that preventing evictions could help Medicaid patients receive care, offset the Medicaid budget, and prevent acute health crises.
NLIHC’s Jade Vasquez next shared insights from NLIHC’s new report, Tenant Protections and Emergency Rental Assistance during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report found that states and localities have enacted over 130 new laws or executive actions related to tenant protections over the course of the pandemic, many of them related to emergency rental assistance programs. Tara Barauskas of the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, Katie West of the Housing Network of Rhode Island, and Sue Shirek of Northlands Rescue Mission in North Dakota concluded the call by providing field updates.
NLIHC hosts national calls every week. Our next call will be held today, January 31, at 2:30 pm ET. Register for the call at: tinyurl.com/ru73qan
View presentation slides from the January 24 call at: tinyurl.com/yth893hn
Watch a recording of the January 24 call at: tinyurl.com/bdfru5yy