A Place to Call Home

This week in Congress, the House voted approved the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) funding bill for Fiscal Year 2016, which passed 216-210. Though the bill prioritizes federal rental assistance, the bill cuts funds that would repair and maintain public housing by $194 million. Since the public housing programs already have an over $26 billion repair backlog, these cuts are especially devastating. In addition, the bill also includes cuts to the HOME program by $133 million. The HOME program gives states and localities the funding to build and repair affordable housing. In addition, the bill makes no new investments to combat homelessness. The bill failed to fund two of the proposals President Obama made that would combat homelessness: programs that would restore 67,000 housing vouchers that were cut under sequestration; and homeless assistance grants to support more than 25,000 new units of supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals and families. There is an urgent need to address the issue of affordable housing. Over 1.2 million children who go to public schools do not have a home to go back to at the end of the school day. In every state, a minimum of one in four low-income renters spent over half of their income on housing in 2013, and over 10 million low-income renter households had severe rent burdens. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in 2011, the average U.S. employee needed to make $18.46 per hour – more than twice the federal minimum wage – to afford a modest two-bedroom rental and still pay for food and other basic needs. One way that you can take action is by encouraging Congress to fund the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). In 2008, Congress created the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 to create 3.5 million affordable housing units. The National Housing Trust Fund is the only resource dedicated solely to funding affordable housing for people most at risk of becoming homeless, focusing on the most vulnerable and low-income populations. Jewish tradition teaches that it is more valuable to help a person become self-sufficient than it is to give the person a hand-out of food or money. The Talmud teaches us that, “The person who lends money [to a poor person] is greater than the person who gives charity; and the one who throws money into a common purse [to form a partnership with the poor person] is greater than either” (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 63b). We are commanded to help those less fortunate on the path of self-sufficiency so that one day they will not need assistance. The NHTF still needs congressional funding, even though funding started to flow to the NHTF for the first time in December 2014. Take action and urge your Members of Congress to support the National Housing Trust Fund!