We all know that there is tremendous unmet need in the state for housing that low-income people can afford. However, there is good news: Congress’s recent bipartisan budget agreement is our first opportunity in many years to get increased federal funding for housing and homeless services.
President Trump’s new FY 2019 budget is a bad start, but it’s just a proposal that still has to get through the House and Senate. The fact is, Congress just lifted austere spending caps that have starved HUD programs for years. The bill adds $131 billion in domestic non-defense spending for the next two fiscal years, and now they need to figure out how to spend it.
While Trump’s budget would add only $2 billion of that new money to HUD (for an overall 14% cut), we know that increased funding for rental assistance, homeless services, public housing, CDBG, HOME, and the National Housing Trust Fund would go a long way to alleviating the housing affordability crisis. But we need to let our members of Congress know these programs really work to keep the most vulnerable Ohioans stably housed.
The first step is to add your organization to this sign-on letter asking Ohio’s Congressional Delegation to support increased funding for rental assistance and other HUD programs. (Click here to read the letter.)
After you sign the letter, we’ll get in touch when the time comes to call your members of Congress to let them know how important these federal housing programs are to their constituents.
