From the National Low Income Housing Coalition (http://www.nlihc.org):
As high-level negotiations continue between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) on a revised reconciliation package, there is increasing concern that the House-passed $150 billion in investments for affordable, accessible housing – including significant funding for NLIHC’s top priorities – will be left behind.
The reconciliation package is the last and best opportunity this year to advance the bold, long-term solutions needed to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis, and we cannot miss this critically important moment!
Contact your members of Congress TODAY and urge them to include in any reconciliation package robust affordable housing investments targeted to those with the greatest needs, including NLIHC’s top priorities:
- $25 billion to expand rental assistance to more than 300,000 households. See how many vouchers your state would receive here.
- $65 billion to make critically needed repairs to public housing and preserve this valuable asset for its 2 million residents.
- $15 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve over 150,000 affordable, accessible homes for households with the lowest incomes.
See NLIHC’s breakdown of how much each state would receive through the Housing Trust Fund here.
Go to https://p2a.co/kxwwisl to email, tweet, and call your representative and senators today and urge them to support targeted investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the national Housing Trust Fund in any reconciliation package! Use our call-in script and advocacy toolkit to help create your own message to Congress!
Background
After centrist Democrat Senator Joe Manchin announced in December 2021 that he could not support the House-passed $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better Act” as it was currently written, congressional leaders have been working to find a compromise that can win the support of Senator Manchin and nearly all of his Democratic colleagues. While Democratic members remain hopeful that they will be able to enact an agreement, time is running out – Congress will be out of session for the majority of August, and the current budget resolution expires when the new fiscal year begins on October 1.
Reports on the status of negotiations indicate the bill’s provisions are beginning to take shape. President Joe Biden hinted at some of the specific provisions he believes can be enacted, including capping the cost of insulin, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, providing energy-related tax breaks, and creating a 15% minimum tax on corporations as well as higher taxes for the “super wealthy” – all priorities that Senator Manchin has insisted on since negotiations restarted.
The historic investments in affordable, accessible housing in the House-enacted bill are still desperately needed. Nationally, there is a shortage of nearly 7 million affordable, available rental homes for renters with the lowest incomes, with nearly 8 million extremely low-income renter households spending over half of their incomes on rent every month. Because of decades of federal disinvestment, our nation loses between 10,000 to 15,000 units of public housing to obsolescence and disrepair every year, and Congress’s consistent underfunding of housing solutions means that just one in four households eligible for housing assistance receives any help.
Take Action!
Email, tweet, and call your representative and senators today and urge them to support robust investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund in any reconciliation package!
Use our call-in script and advocacy toolkit to help create your own message to Congress!
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