Push Back Against a Skinny Budget that Starves Residents and Communities
Last week, President Trump released a "skinny budget" (a deeply ironic name for such a sweeping and disastrous proposal) that would hurt many of the low-income and working class people and communities that he promised to help during the election. President Trump's budget proposal reflects fundamental ignorance or denial about the current need for affordable housing in communities across the country. The United States currently has a shortage of 7.4 million affordable rental homes available to the lowest income people. Every state and congressional district is directly impacted by the growing housing crisis.
The skinny budget proposes to deepen the already devastating sequestration cuts in non-defense discretionary (NDD) domestic programs, including housing and community development assistance, by $15 billion in FY 2017 and by $54 billion in FY 2018. The President's proposal to increase defense spending while slashing NDD programs would overturn the Budget Control Act and terminate the bipartisan consensus that there should be parity between increases or cuts for defense and non-defense programs.
The Trump budget would not fully fund project-based rental assistance, Housing Choice Vouchers, and public housing. Any shortfall in these critical programs will cause some of the 4.5 million low-income residents who benefit from this assistance, the majority of whom are elderly or disabled, to lose their homes and supportive services. HUD's rental assistance currently serves only 25 percent of the Americans who are eligible, so there is not a dime to spare.
President Trump proposes to eliminate the HOME Investment Partnerships program, an effective, locally driven tool that helps states and communities address their most pressing housing challenges, including providing critical gap financing to preserve irreplaceable affordable housing. The budget also would end funding for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Choice Neighborhoods, NeighborWorks America, and the Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program. All of these block grant programs leverage private state and local resources to preserve and produce affordable housing and community facilities.
The budget would eliminate the Treasury Department's funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund grants, cutting off a vital resource to communities lacking traditional sources of capital. The proposal also zeroes out funding for the federal Weatherization Assistance Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and the Energy Star program, which would leave low-income families literally out in the cold and halt progress on energy efficiency.
Although the skinny budget does not specifically address the USDA's Rural Housing Service, it does propose to cut USDA's budget by more than 20 percent, threatening rural infrastructure and development. The budget also calls for the elimination of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), the Corporation for National and Community Service (including AmeriCorps), and the Legal Services Corporation.
NHT is committed to working with residents, stakeholders, and local officials to help Members of Congress understand the critical need for and benefits of federal housing assistance. By arranging site visits and sharing resident success stories and data, we will help Members of Congress to understand that investments in affordable housing help low-income residents stabilize their lives, achieve economic mobility, improve their health, attain education, and create jobs. We encourage all our partners and friends to join this effort to stop this budget proposal in its tracks and to prevent smaller but still devastating cuts to housing assistance.
To stay up to date on all things affordable housing and federal policy, please follow Federal Policy Director Ellen Lurie Hoffman at on Twitter at @EllenLHoffman.