Members of Congress are back in their home states and districts until September 9 for a month-long work period known as “August recess.” During this time, advocates will have valuable opportunities to meet with their members of Congress, show them the impact of affordable housing and homelessness resources on their constituents, and urge them to provide the long-term, large-scale resources required to address the nation’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. To support advocacy efforts during August recess, NLIHC has compiled a set of useful toolkits.
Take Action during August Recess!
Use the following NLIHC toolkits to help plan meetings with members and their staffs and to get ideas for events highlighting the impact of federal affordable housing and homelessness programs on your community:
- Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing: This toolkit includes resources, talking points, advocacy ideas, and other helpful information on defending funding for affordable housing and homelessness resources in the fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal budget. Meet with your members and urge them to provide the highest possible funding for these vital programs in any final FY25 budget agreement!
- Oppose the Criminalization of Homelessness: In its recent decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court ruled that local governments can arrest or fine people experiencing homelessness for sleeping outside, even when adequate shelter is not available. Criminalization is an outdated, dehumanizing, and ineffective approach to addressing homelessness that furthers racial inequity and ultimately makes it more difficult to help people obtain safe, stable housing. Use this toolkit to continue urging state and local policymakers to oppose the criminalization of homelessness and instead to support long-term solutions like investments in affordable, accessible housing and housing assistance.
- Capitol Hill Day Advocacy Toolkit: This toolkit includes tips for scheduling meetings, as well as talking points, a meeting request template, and tips for sharing your story with elected officials during August recess.
In addition to scheduling in-district meetings and events with members of Congress and their staff, advocates can continue engaging their members of Congress by:
- Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly!
- Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.
National, state, local, tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,300 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY25.