Federal Housing Policy Update: Challenges and Advocacy Opportunities

Update on Federal Housing and Homelessness Policy: FY18 Budget & Tax Reform May 10, 2017 Sarah Mickelson, National Low Income Housing Coalition

National Low Income Housing Coalition NLIHC is dedicated to ensuring access to safe, decent, affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes. Our top policy priorities include: Reprioritizing federal spending on affordable housing. Protecting and expanding federal housing resources. Expanding the Housing Trust Fund. Ensuring equitable access to affordable housing. Supporting anti-poverty solutions. Become a member and receive our Action Alerts: http://nlihc.org/membership

Significant Challenges Ahead for FY 2018 Spending Caps Return In FY18 Trump Proposes $54B Cut To Domestic Programs

Presidents FY18 Budget: Cuts HUD By 13% or $6.2B More than 200,000 Housing Choice Vouchers could be lost. Cuts public housing capital fund by $1.3 billion or 68%. Eliminates CDBG. Eliminates HOME and Choice Neighborhoods. Eliminates SHOP. These cuts are on top of an already tight HUD budget which is $4.3 billion or 8.4% lower in 2016 than in 2010, adjusted for inflation.

But Trump s budget is DOA, but does it change the goal posts? The Senate needs 60 votes to pass appropriations bill, but will vulnerable Dems peel off? How long will it take for Congress to move past healthcare? Does Congress have an appetite for a big fight over the budget, or will they be too busy with healthcare, tax reform, Dodd-Frank repeal? Does Trump want a government shutdown?

Our Message to Congress: (1) Lift the harmful spending caps, equally for defense and domestic programs (2) Provide the most funding possible to Transportation-HUD spending bill It is not enough for Congress to reject Trump s deep budget cuts. They must lift the spending caps to ensure full funding for affordable housing.

How You Can Advocate For Affordable Housing: (1) Sign the national letter: https://nlihc.wufoo.com/forms/urge- congress-lift-spending-caps-fund-thud-bill/ (2) Call or Meet With Your Members of Congress or their staff; (3) Attend a Townhall and Ask About Resources for Affordable Housing; (4) Submit an op-ed or letter-to-the-editor to your local paper; (5) Participate in NLIHC s Day of Action in late July!

Advocacy Resources New Report - A Place To Call Home: The Case For Increased Federal Investments In Affordable Housing Latest research on the link between affordable housing and economic mobility, health, education, and the economy. 100+ success stories of people and communities that have been positively impacted by HUD and USDA Rural Housing programs. Statewide data on funding levels and job creation. New report: http://nlihc.org/partners/chcdf 100+ Success Stories: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/A-Place-To-Call- Home_Profiles.pdf

Advocacy Resources New Advocacy Toolkit - Talking points on the impact of budget cuts, the importance of federal housing programs, and the report. Sample tweets #CutsHurt. 3 sample op-eds. Best practices. Advocacy toolkit: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/A%20Place%20To%20 Call%20Home_Advocacy%20Toolkit%20FINAL_0.pdf

Tax Reform & United for Homes Reform the mortgage interest deduction to better serve low and moderate income homeowners and to reinvest the savings into affordable rental homes for lowest income people: Lower the cap on the size of a mortgage that is eligible for MID from $1 million to the first $500,000 impacting 6% of homeowners. Convert the deduction to a credit to give 15 million more homeowners a tax break. Reinvest the savings $241 billion over 10 years into affordable housing solutions, like HTF, rental assistance, a renters tax credit, etc.

Our Message to Congress: Keep Housing Dollars In Housing! Republicans want to use the savings from MID reform to pay for lowering tax rates for millionaires and corporations. H.R. 948, the Common Sense Housing Investment Act from Rep. Ellison (D-MN), would reinvest the savings into the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, Housing Trust Fund, resources to repair public housing, and rental assistance solutions.

United for Homes Campaign Join the 2,300 national, state, and local organizations and government officials who have endorsed the campaign! Endorse the campaign: http://www.unitedforhomes.org/join-the-movement/ Find endorsers in your state: http://www.unitedforhomes.org/national-supporters/ Check out the new UFH website: http://www.unitedforhomes.org/

Congressional Targets: Washington Senator Cantwell (D-WA) Finance Committee Senator Murray (D-WA) Budget, Leadership Rep. DelBene (D-01) Ways & Means, Budget Rep. Larsen (D-02) Rep. Herrera Beutler (R-03) - Appropriations Rep. Newhouse (R-04) - Appropriations Rep. McMorris Rodgers (R-05) Rep. Kilmer (D-06) - Appropriations Rep. Jayapal (D-07) - Budget Rep. Reichert (R-08) Ways & Means Rep. Smith (D-09) Rep. Heck (D-10) Financial Services

Paul Ryans A Better Way Plan Proposes welfare reform-style changes to housing programs, including work requirements and time limits that could lead to deeper poverty. Extreme poverty doubled under welfare reform. We may also see attempts to block grant housing programs to states. Punishing low-income people by taking away their access to affordable housing only makes it harder to find work. Instead, we should invest in education and training to help everyone get a well-paying job of the 21st century. We need to ensure that people have an affordable place to call home, if they have low-incomes or fall on tough times. We should not dismantle federal programs that ensure basic living standards for all Americans.

For more information Sarah Mickelson National Low Income Housing Coalition smickelson@nlihc.org www.nlihc.org