August Advocacy Week 5: Finalize FY 2022 HUD Appropriations

For the final week of this year’s August Advocacy, tell Congress to finalize the FY 2022 Transportation-HUD spending bill at House-approved levels and avoid the need for multiple continuing resolutions. Preserving our affordable housing stock has never been more important. Congress has a responsibility to affordable housing residents and those charged with running the nation’s affordable housing programs to provide on-time, full funding.

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives approved a nearly 14% increase to the HUD budget. The proposed budget would create an estimated 125,000 new housing vouchers, along with a $331 million increase in administrative fees and $150 million for mobility services. In the budget, the Public Housing Capital Fund is fully funded at its annual accrual rate of $3.4 billion. If approved, this would be the first time Congress would provide funding to cover the full capital needs of public housing properties each year.

Congress must also bring equity in funding between HUD’s overall budget, which has doubled in the past 20 years, and Indian Housing programs that have received flat funding. Through underfunding, Indian Housing programs have lost 30% of their purchasing power. Urge Congress to fund the Native American Housing Block Grant at no less than $960 million.

The affordable housing crisis that we faced prior to the pandemic is worsening, as rents in many areas of the country have risen significantly since the beginning of the summer. Visit www.NAHRO.org/advocate to tell your elected officials to fully fund housing and community development programs at the House-approved levels through FY 2022 HUD appropriations.