In our most recent (March 1) national call for the “HoUSed: Universal, Stable, and Affordable Housing” campaign, we welcomed Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), who spoke about his “Housing for All Act of 2022,” a bill that would provide robust investments in the development of deeply affordable, accessible housing through the national Housing Trust Fund, as well as significant funding for housing vouchers and homelessness response services. If enacted, the investments in the bill would effectively end homelessness and housing poverty in the United States.
“There is not a medium-to-large-sized city that hasn’t felt the impact of the housing affordability crisis and increasing rates of homelessness,” said Senator Padilla. “What can the federal government do? Bring significant resources to bear.”
Jeff Olivet, newly appointed executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), discussed the Biden administration’s plan to address homelessness at the federal level. He stressed the importance of Housing First as a foundation for eliminating homelessness, as well as the need to distribute resources in ways that address the long-standing, structural inequities that have resulted in people of color, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community being disproportionately impacted by housing instability and homelessness.
Noel Poyo, deputy assistant secretary for community development at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), provided updates on emergency rental assistance (ERA) distribution data. According to Treasury’s data, more than 3.2 million households received ERA in 2021 and nearly two-thirds of those were households with extremely low incomes (see Memo, 2/28).
Sid Betancourt of NLIHC discussed the newest issue of Tenant Talk, an NLIHC publication geared toward tenants and residents. The latest issue discusses ERA distribution and its impact on tenants and includes articles by renters, resident leaders, advocates, NLIHC staff, and others. In addition to publishing Tenant Talk, NLIHC also hosts monthly “Tenant Talk Live” webinars. The next webinar will be held on Monday, March 7, at 6:00 pm. Register for the webinar here.
Carol Bodeen of the Nebraska Housing Developers Association provided a field update, and NLIHC’s Sarah Saadian, senior vice president of public policy, concluded the call by sharing the latest information about events on Capitol Hill and discussing the State of the Union.
NLIHC hosts national calls every week. Our next call will be today, March 7, at 2:30 pm ET. Register for the call at: tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Watch a recording of the March 1 call at: tinyurl.com/9m7r7tr9
View presentation slides from the March 1 call at: tinyurl.com/yckmn6e3