ACTION ALERT
An Up-to-the-Minute Briefing on
Crucial Issues
For NAHRO-Member Housing Authorities and CD Agencies
January 29, 2003
Contact your Senators and Representatives to Support
FY 2003 Housing and Community Development Funding
As the House and Senate move toward final negotiations regarding FY 2003 appropriations,
NAHRO encourages members to join the fight to provide adequate funding for housing
and community development programs. We recommend that members contact their
senators and representatives to voice support for funding levels and provisions
that protect these vital programs.
This alert contains a brief description of NAHRO's recommendations, a sample
letter to Congress, identification of key players in the upcoming negotiations,
and contact information for senators and representatives. For a general update
on the status of FY 2003 Appropriations, see the Jan. 27 and 28 Washington Updates
on Appropriations at /members/news/index.cfm
Conference action is set to begin this week, so we urge
you to contact Congress as soon as possible.
As you contact Congress please keep us in the loop, e-mail us at actionalert@nahro.org
NAHRO Recommendations
Highlights: Operating Fund and Section 8:
Perhaps the most critical issues in this year’s VA-HUD appropriations
confront the Public Housing Operating Fund and the Section 8 Housing Choice
Voucher program. With regard to the Operating Fund, NAHRO recommends that members
support the House Appropriations committee-passed level of $3.6 billion. However,
we also recommend that members urge their Congressional representatives
to provide an additional $250 million emergency appropriation to address the
FY 2002 Operating Fund shortfall recently revealed by HUD.
NAHRO strongly recommends member support for the Senate’s
provisions governing the Section 8 voucher renewal formula and administrative
fees. These provisions represent a great improvement over the
House’s Section 8 proposals, which would reduce the number of vouchers
provided nationwide and create dramatic changes in the Section 8 Administrative
fee structure.
Summary Document and Table:
NAHRO has prepared summary documents comparing the House and Senate bills and
providing NAHRO’s recommended funding and authorizing positions going
into the final FY 2003 appropriations act. See:
House and Senate FY 2003 VA-HUD Appropriations Bills:
How to Get Involved
Contact your Senators or Members of Congress to express your views (see sample
letter /documents/2003/0129AppropsFormLetter.rtf)
Personalize it and fax or e-mail a copy to their Washington offices (due to
security concerns at the Capitol, electronic media are the most efficient methods
to reach Congress). Also, feel free to call members of Congress and their staffs.
In your contacts, please be sure to support them for positive aspects of their
bills that you would like maintained through conference in addition to mentioning
areas of concern.
If one of your legislators is a member of the House or Senate Appropriations
committees or leadership structure, please reach out to them. House and Senate
appropriations conferees (representatives appointed to serve on the FY 2003
appropriations conference committee) will have particular opportunity to influence
the outcome of FY 2003 appropriations. If the legislators are not conferees,
please ask them to contact members of the FY 2003 Appropriations Conference
Committee and support your requests.
Congressional Contact Information
Senate FY 2003 Appropriations conferees /documents/2003/0129senateConf.xls
Contact information for all Senators is available at: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
In the attached list of contact information for Congress, members of the House
Appropriations committee are highlighted in bold. House conferees appear in
bold, italic and blue.
/documents/2003/0127houseofrep.xls
Find Your Represenatives and Senators
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
If you are unsure who your representatives in Washington are, this link will
connect you to a site that will locate them for you using zip code information.
Sample Letter
The attached sample letter highlights several of the major appropriations issues
we would like the Appropriations Conferees to address. Members should modify
these letters to suit their agencies and concerns; feel free to delete sections
if necessary. If you would like information about additional programs and issues,
please consult NAHRO’s comparison and recommendation documents on NAHRO's
Web site.
Sample Letter for FY 2003 Appropriations Conference: /documents/2003/0129AppropsFormLetter.rtf
[Rich Text Format document – you may need to save to disk before opening
with your word processing program]
NAHRO Staff Contacts
Please contact NAHRO staff for additional information on appropriations:
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