Senate THUD Subcommittee Approves FY16 Spending Bill - June 23, 2015
Bill Contains Severe Cuts Due to Sequester Caps, Leaves NHTF Intact
UPDATE
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies marked up its FY16 spending bill this morning, June 23. Not all of the details of the bill have been released, but NLIHC is aware of some of the bill’s specifics. The bill would:
- Not use any National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) resources to fund other HUD housing programs, and does not restrict future NHTF funding in any way.
- Cut HOME funding from FY15’s level of $900 million to an FY16 level of $66 million.
- Expand the Moving to Work demonstration (currently restricted to 39 public housing agencies) to an additional 300 PHAs.
- “Continue,” according a Committee press release, “assistance to all families currently served” by the public housing and housing choice voucher programs. The bill would, however, make a $132 million cut to the public housing capital fund.
- Provide a “full year” of funding for all project-based rental assistance contracts and continue assistance to all those currently served.
- Provide funding for 10,000 new Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers.
- Provide $20 million for Family Unification Program vouchers.
- Provide $40 million for strategies to reduce youth homelessness.
- Increase Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities by $2 million, to $137 million.
- Provide $330 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program and include an updated formula for distribution of HOPWA funds.
- Decrease funding for Community Development Block Grants from FY15’s $3.1 billion to $2.9 billion for FY16.
THE SEQUESTER SPENDING CAPS
The Budget Control Act’s sequester spending caps impose funding restrictions that make it impossible to renew project-based rental assistance contracts, existing vouchers, and other essential programs without imposing deep cuts in others, such as the ones to the HOME program in the Senate THUD Subcommittee bill. Until the sequester spending caps are removed, it will be impossible for key HUD programs to get the funds they need to effectively serve communities in need.
TAKE ACTION
The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill and amendments to it on Thursday, June 25. Call your Senators on the THUD Appropriations Committee and:
- Thank them for not raiding National Housing Trust Fund resources to backstop inadequate overall funding levels dictated by the sequester caps.
- Ask them to oppose the Senate THUD bill because it all but eliminates the HOME program and expands the Moving to Work demonstration to 300 PHAs – potentially subjecting hundreds of thousands of tenants to rent increases, time limits, and work requirements. For more information on MTW, see the letter from NLIHC and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/NLIHC-CBPP_MTW-expansion-letter_05….
- Ask them to support reversing the sequester spending caps immediately.
See which of your Senators is on the Full Appropriations Committee: http://1.usa.gov/1LrT9sy
To find contact information for your Senator, call the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351, or click here.
Please email outreach@nlihc.org with any feedback you receive from your Senator’s office.
Thank you for your support!