House T-HUD Numbers Out!

written by naehblog

July 1, 2010

This morning, the House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its fiscal year (FY) 2011 spending bill. (This is the subcommittee - along with its Senate counterpart - that governs the HUD budget.) Although all of the details of the bill are not yet available, the legislation includes:

• $2.055 billion for the HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants (the amount requested by the Administration and a 10 percent increase over FY 2010);
• $75 million for HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers;
• $85 million for a Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration; and
• $350 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program (a $15 million increase over FY 2010).

Given the current budget climate and the emphasis on keeping the deficit down, we are delighted that the House has provided increased resources for each of these programs. In fact, if passed by Congress, this would be the largest one-year increase for the McKinney programs in 15 years. However, it will require $2.4 billion to fully implement the HEARTH Act. So we need you to get back to those phones and do YOUR part to ensure that you’re protecting the local programs that help our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.

• Contact your Representative and ask him/her to work throughout the rest of the appropriations process to provide additional funding for McKinney programs. (And if they happen to be a House T-HUD member, thank them for their work on the spending bill!)
• Call the housing staffers in your Senators’ office and ask them to work with Senate T-HUD members to provide the necessary $2.4 billion for McKinney programs in the Senate FY 2011 bill.
• Let us know what happened.Report all responses to Amanda Krusemark and let her know if you want to stay involved with Alliance advocacy efforts.

We know you've been working hard to work on this McKinney campaign - and we couldn't make progress without you. And while advocacy can be sometimes-unglamorous work, we know that YOU'RE making the difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness in our local communities and nationwide. For additional details on the House’s HUD appropriations bill, visit our website. And thanks for all your hard work!