Action Alert: Oppose 18% cuts to HUD budget

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Dear Friends:

The U.S. House of Representative's Appropriation's Committee has proposed cutting the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies (THUD) Subcommittee’s FY11 budget by 18 percent. This would mean significant cuts to HUD's budget. If HUD had to sustain this level of cuts, households which are currently housed through HUD programs would lose their housing. HUD would need to cut funding for affordable housing and programs that people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness rely on - including the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), Public Housing, Continuum of Care and Emergency Shelter Grant programs.

Please take action! Write your Congressman a letter or call him and let him know that these cuts are unacceptable. Your letter should be addressed to the Congressman but either emailed or faxed to the staff person in his office who works on housing issues. If you call, you should ask to speak to the staff person who works on housing issues. The appropriate staff person and contact info is listed below. Attached is a template letter.

Representative Martin Heinrich

DC Phone: (202) 225-6316

Legislative aide assigned to housing/homelessness issue: Maya Hermann

maya.hermann@mail.house.gov

Fax: (202) 225-4975

Representative Ben Ray Lujan

DC Phone: (202) 225-6190

Legislative aide assigned to housing/homelessness issues: Andrew Jones

Andrew.jones@mail.house.gov

Fax: (202) 226-1528

Representative Steve Pearce

DC Phone: (202) 225- 2365

Legislative aide assigned to housing/homelessness issues: Kate Schmucker

Kate.schmucker@mail.house.gov

SAMPLE LETTER:

[DATE]

Dear Representative [NAME]

I am writing to let you know my organization is very alarmed about the House Budget Committee’s plan to set FY11 spending caps for domestic discretionary programs at FY08 levels, which has led the House Appropriations Committee to propose cutting the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies (THUD) Subcommittee’s funding allocation by 18 percent.

[Provide brief description of your organization]

These cuts would reduce HUD’s share of the THUD budget, which means that many very low-income households in your district would lose their housing or will be unable to secure safe housing. These cuts would essentially place the largest burden on those who have been most impacted by the worst economy of our lifetimes at the very time more and more people need help.

[Describe the impact such cuts would have on the people you serve or share a specific story of how this would impact a household you know. Describe the impact the recession has had on people’s need for affordable housing in the Congressman’s district]

HUD programs must be funded at FY10 levels at a minimum. Three HUD programs must be funded at higher than FY10 levels to prevent households from being evicted from affordable housing:

• The tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher program requires more than $900 million over FY10 levels for renewals.
• The project-based rental assistance program requires more than $655 million over FY10 levels for renewals.
• The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants requires more than $190 million over FY10 levels.

Cutting funding for HUD programs punishes those who have been most affected by the recession, even though these people did not cause the recession. I urge you to protect funding for those housing programs that help the people most impacted by the recession keep and secure housing.

Sincerely,