ACT NOW: Tell Congress to Provide Strong Fair Housing and Equitable Housing Programs in the FY23 HUD Funding Bill!

The House of Representatives is working to advance the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding bill and will likely vote on the bill this week, while the Senate is still drafting its bill. The House’s FY23 HUD funding bill provides a 17% boost to HUD, representing a major shift in Congress’s spending priorities at a time when rapidly rising housing prices are significantly contributing to the historic inflation the public is grappling with.   

In the largest cities, rents have risen by as much as 30%, nearly 38% of rural Americans are cost burdened and 19% are severely cost burdened. People who are ready for homeownership face daunting odds of making that dream a reality. In 2021, home prices increased by 19%, further delaying the purchase of starter homes and forcing those ready for homeownership to continue renting instead.   

Housing makes up a major component of our nation’s economy and rising inflation, and in February the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco predicted that rent inflation alone could add as much as .5% to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index for both 2022 and 2023. Congress must act to reduce the impact that rising housing costs are having on historic inflation and address the nation’s housing affordability crisis, racial homeownership gap, and persistent housing discrimination.      

Contact your Representatives and Senators to ensure that HUD funding legislation includes these critical housing priorities: 

• $73.5 million for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. 
• $35.2 million for the Fair Housing Assistance Program. 
• $153 million for salaries and expenses to increase staffing at HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. 
• $10 billion for First-Generation Down Payment Assistance with language that allows for the targeting of grants to socially and economically disadvantaged people. 
• $32.13 billion for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance. 
• $5.125 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund and $5.06 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund. 
• $3.5 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants. 
• $100 million for legal assistance to prevent evictions. 
• $300 million for the competitive tribal housing program, with targeted language to ensure tribes with the greatest demonstrated needs are prioritized. 
• Opposition to any amendments that would prevent HUD from proposing its forthcoming Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which will ensure that federal dollars are used equitably by local and state governments and empower them to plan their federally-assisted housing and community development investments according to the specific needs of their residents.  
• Opposition to any amendments that would prevent HUD from reviewing how criminal convictions are considered in HUD-assisted housing.