Take Action on FY23 Appropriations and the Reconciliation Package

President Biden is expected to release his budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2023 as soon as this week, signaling the official start of the FY2023 appropriations season. Congress passed and the president signed last week an overdue federal spending bill for FY2022. The bill provided a $2.5 billion-boost to HUD funding over the previous year, in addition to $1.5 billion in earmarked spending for specific projects (see Memo, 3/14).

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) – chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, respectively – are already planning to convene House and Senate appropriations leaders to discuss the FY2023 spending bill, with the goal of avoiding another long-term delay in enacting the legislation. The FY2023 bill presents Congress with the opportunity to make significant investments in affordable housing and community development programs, including in NLIHC’s top priorities for the appropriations bill:

  • An expansion of housing vouchers to an additional 200,000 households.
  • Significant funding to preserve and operate public housing.
  • Robust resources to address homelessness through Homeless Assistance Grants.
  • Additional funding for the competitive tribal housing program, targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
  • At least $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions.

President Biden’s budget request will be part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to invest in the country’s housing infrastructure. The housing investments proposed in last year’s “Build Back Better Act,” passed by the House in November 2021, call for $150 billion to address the country’s growing affordable housing crisis. Congressional Democrats are plotting a path forward to enacting a significantly scaled-down reconciliation bill that can win the approval of Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the lone holdout in the Senate who effectively thwarted the passage of the bill last December (see Memo, 12/20/21).

As the new reconciliation package begins to take shape, it is crucial that advocates continue to contact their members of Congress to urge them to retain historic, targeted investments in affordable housing in any reconciliation package, including:

  • $25 billion to expand rental assistance 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.

Bold federal investments in affordable housing are needed to address inflation, lower the cost of housing, and ensure everyone has a safe, stable place to call home.

Take Action!

Advocates should contact their senators and representatives to urge them to support the highest funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs in the FY23 spending bill and any budget reconciliation package.

FY2023 Spending Bill

  • Sign your organization on to a letter supporting the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY23.
  • Contact your senators and representatives and urge them to support NLIHC’s top priorities in FY23, including:
    • An expansion of housing vouchers to an additional 200,000 households.
    • Significant funding to preserve and operate public housing.
    • Robust resources to address homelessness through Homeless Assistance Grants.
    • Additional funding for the competitive tribal housing program, targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
    • At least $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions.

Budget Reconciliation Bill

  • Join over 1,800 organizations around the country in support of historic investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund in any reconciliation bill that moves forward.
  • Your members of Congress need to hear from you about why investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund are critical to your community and why they must remain in any budget reconciliation package.

Thank you for your advocacy!