In our most recent (February 22) national call for the “HoUSed: Universal, Stable, and Affordable Housing” campaign, we provided the latest updates from Capitol Hill; shared tips for increasing voter turnout among households with low-incomes and people experiencing homelessness; discussed findings and recommendations from NLIHC’s new report on using fact-specific proxies to determine eligibility for emergency rental assistance; received updates from the field; and more.
NLIHC’s Senior Vice President of Policy Sarah Saadian provided updates on the “Build Back Better Act” and the progress made on an overdue fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations package to fund the federal government. While publicly negotiations over the “Build Back Better Act” appear to have stalled, conversations about what to include in a slimmed-down package are continuing behind closed doors, so advocates should continue weighing in with their members of Congress about the importance of maintaining the bill’s historic investments in housing vouchers, public housing, and the national Housing Trust Fund. Congress also set a new deadline of March 11 to finalize its appropriations bills for FY2022.
Sam Joel from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) provided an overview of two new resources released by USICH on ways to increase voter turnout among people experiencing homelessness. One is a step-by-step election guide for homelessness service providers explaining how they can help those they serve register to vote. The other is a guide geared toward helping people experiencing homelessness who lack a permanent address to register to vote. Danny Navarro of Nonprofit VOTE shared findings from the organization’s recent report “America’s Nonprofits Get Out the Vote,” which examines the frequency with which nonprofit organizations participate in nonpartisan voter engagement. The report found that nearly one in five nonprofits surveyed reported conducting voter engagement and nearly half of surveyed nonprofits led by people of color were conducting voter-engagement work.
NLIHC’s Emma Foley and Sophie Siebach-Glover discussed findings from their recent report on how fact-specific proxies have been used to determine eligibility for emergency rental assistance (ERA). The report offers considerations for ERA administrators implementing fact-specific proxies, lessons learned from programs that have used fact-specific proxies, and suggestions for improving implementation. Tia Turner, founder of Love Huntsville, and Ivy Vann, of the Congress for the New Urbanism, provided field updates.
NLIHC hosts national calls every week. Our next call will be tomorrow, March 1, at 2:30 pm ET, and we will be joined by Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA).
Register for the call at: tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Watch a recording of the February 22 call at: tinyurl.com/4tsmsjpr
View presentation slides from the February 22 call at: tinyurl.com/fwzuk7bk