NLIHC’s Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF) sent a letter on August 27 to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) thanking the House for their work securing increased funding and meaningful protections for fiscal year (FY) 2021 and urging the Senate to do the same.
Despite strict spending caps on defense and domestic programs required by the Budget Control Act, the House bill provided at least $1.5 billion above FY20 enacted levels and $13 billion more than the president’s FY21 budget request (see Memo, 7/13). The bill rebukes the administration’s harmful and discriminatory policies advanced by HUD Secretary Ben Carson, including the agency’s proposed anti-transgender rule change to the Equal Access Rule and its proposal to roll back the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule of 2015 (see Memo, 1/13).
The letter also brings attention to HUD’s delayed disbursement of CARES Act funding despite Secretary Carson’s broad authority to expedite the use of funds. “HUD has moved with a glacial pace to distribute these potentially lifesaving funds and has not been transparent in its decision-making process,” the letter states. “Congress should hold HUD accountable to its obligation to distribute CARES Act resources with the urgency and transparency this moment requires.”
Read the letter at: https://tinyurl.com/y4hnqd2r
Read NLIHC’s analysis of the House FY21 THUD bill at: https://tinyurl.com/y5yueps9