Federal lawmakers returned to their offices on Capitol Hill the week of December 2 for the final session of the 118th Congress. Before adjourning on December 20, members will need to finalize a continuing resolution (CR) to extend government funding into the new year and avert a partial shutdown of the federal government. Lawmakers also aim to negotiate and enact a disaster recovery package to help communities and individuals impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as survivors of the Maui wildfires and other recent disasters.
FY25 Appropriations
Despite earlier optimism, leaders in Congress have not been able to reach a final agreement on fiscal year (FY) 2025 spending bills and will need to pass another CR by December 20 to ensure the federal government does not run out of funding. While there is unanimous agreement that another CR will be required, lawmakers are still deciding on how long the CR should last. Appropriations leaders, including Senate Appropriations Vice-Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), are calling for a CR into mid-February 2025 to ensure that work on FY25 is finished quickly and the committee can turn its attention to FY26. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is pushing instead for a CR lasting until mid- or late-March 2025, which would give more time for a Republican-controlled Congress to push for additional spending cuts.
Lawmakers must pass a final FY25 spending bill by the end of April 2025 or face across-the-board spending cuts to both defense and domestic programs (known as “sequestration”). Insufficient funding, budget cuts, and long-term CRs have a devastating impact on affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs. CRs maintain spending levels from the previous fiscal year, but because the cost of affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs rises every year, increased annual funding for HUD programs is required to simply maintain the number of people served by these vital programs.
Disaster Aid
Along with the CR, lawmakers are still determined to pass a disaster aid package before the end of the year. The Biden administration has requested approximately $115 billion for disaster recovery efforts, including funding to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Disaster Recovery Fund, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) disaster loan program, and HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, which funds housing and other long-term rebuilding efforts.
Despite bipartisan support for a disaster recovery bill, lawmakers have not been able to reach an agreement on how much funding should be included in the aid package. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) stated last week that the bill could total $30-$40 billion, a $75-$85 billion drop from the White House’s request. In a November hearing on the disaster aid bill, Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) argued that Congress should also use the disaster aid bill as an opportunity to make needed improvements to the federal disaster recovery response, including by permanently authorizing HUD’s CDBG-DR program. The lack of authorization delays vital resources from reaching disaster-impacted communities and households; every time Congress approves funds for the program to address specific disasters, HUD must publish a unique set of program requirements, slowing down the flow of funds to those in need.
Take Action!
Urge Congress to pass a final FY25 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s affordable housing and homelessness programs by December 20
Advocates can use NLIHC’s resources to take action today and push Congress to pass increased funding for affordable housing and homelessness in FY25, including for NLIHC’s top priorities:
- Full funding to renew all existing contracts for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and expand assistance to 20,000 more households.
- $6.2 billion for public housing operations and $5.2 billion for public housing capital needs.
- $4.7 billion for HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program.
- $100 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program.
- At least $1.3 billion for Tribal housing programs, plus $150 million for competitive funds targeted to tribes with the greatest needs.
Use NLIHC’s toolkits and resources to take action on FY25 funding, including by:
- Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly!
- Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.
- Using our “Oppose Dramatic Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing” toolkit: This toolkit includes resources, talking points, advocacy ideas, and other helpful information on defending funding for affordable housing and homelessness resources in the FY25 federal budget. Meet with your members and urge them to provide the most possible funding for these vital programs in any final FY25 budget agreement!
National, state, local, tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,300 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY25.
Join an organizational sign-on letter urging Congress to permanently authorize CDBG-DR in the disaster aid package!
The disaster aid package represents an opportunity for Congress to enact the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” (RDRA) into law. The RDRA – a priority for NLIHC’s Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition – is a bipartisan bill that would permanently authorize HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, which provides states, tribes and communities with flexible, long-term recovery resources needed to rebuild affordable housing and infrastructure after a disaster. The bill also provides important safeguards and tools to ensure federal disaster recovery efforts reach all impacted households, including the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors, who often hardest hit and have the fewest resources to recovery
Organizations can join over 500 other organizations from around the country on a sign-on letter from NLIHC, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, and Enterprise calling on Congress to enact the RDRA.