Rockford Area Affordable Housing Coalition Blog

The National Low Income Housing Coalition has issued a call to action of the budget debates that are taking place. Their email states:

CALL TO ACTION

December 12, 2005

A .pdf version of this call to action is available at www.nlihc.org/news/121205cta.pdf.

Send a letter to the editor of your local paper on this topic at http://capwiz.com/nlihc/issues/alert/?alertid=8310571.

Whom to call: Your Representative and both of your Senators
When to call: Monday, Dec. 12, through Friday, Dec. 16
The number to call: (888)-818-6641
The message: Vote NO on across-the-board cuts to housing programs, and
NO on the budget reconciliation bill.

Before Members of Congress go home for the holidays, they will make two
more major attempts to cut programs that help low income people. We know
you've made many calls this year, but please make one more call in 2005
to tell Congress that cutting programs that aid low income families
while cutting taxes for the rich is morally bankrupt!

1. CUTS TO DISCRETIONARY PROGRAMS-INCLUDING HOUSING

When the House and Senate finalized the FY2006 spending bill for HUD,
the news was not good for low income people. Now, Congress wants to go
back and further cut funding for each of HUD's programs-by an additional
1% to 2%.

If this across-the-board cut is passed, CDBG would be reduced by an
additional $75 million, Housing Choice Vouchers would see an additional
35,000 vouchers eliminated, and HOME would receive an additional $35
million cut. Congressional leaders want to include the cut in the
Defense Appropriations bill that Congress is scheduled to vote on this
week or next.

The Message:

Members of Congress should vote NO on the across-the-board cuts to
housing programs.

More Information:

* The letter that a coalition of organizations, including NLIHC, sent to Congress is available at www.nlihc.org/news/120705chcdfletter.pdf.

* Charts showing the state-by-state impacts of a 1% or 2% cut on the voucher program and the CDBG program are available at www.nlihc.org/news/120705chcdftable.pdf and www.nlihc.org/news/120705chcdfcdbg.pdf, respectively.

2. CUTS TO MANDATORY PROGRAMS

The House and Senate have each passed bills, called budget
reconciliation bills, that would cut spending on mandatory programs,
including low income housing preservation, food stamps, and Medicaid.
The House and Senate versions of the budget reconciliation bills are
very different - the Senate cut about $35 billion; the House cut $50
billion.

The bill can only be finalized if the House and Senate can resolve their
differences in a conference committee. If they are able to do that, the
bill will then brought back to each body for a final vote.

The Message:

Members of Congress should vote NO on the budget reconciliation bill.

More Information:

* Details on the budget reconciliation bills are at www.chn.org .

* More than 80 events are being held this week as part of National Week of Prayer and Action for Compassionate Priorities. Find an event near you at www.chn.org/pdf/listofevents.pdf

Questions? Call Kim Schaffer at 202-662-1530 x232. Please report the
results of your calls to kim@nlihc.org.

Yesterday I received an email with various news items. This one stood out to me:

The House of Representatives has voted in favor of establishing a long-overdue Affordable Housing Fund. Those affected by Hurricane Katrina are to receive priority.

But many community-based nonprofits will not be able to receive the funds if the Senate follows the House’s lead.

That’s because hidden away in HR 1461 is an antivoter gag rule. Proposed by Representative Michael Oxley (R?OH), the so-called Manager’s Amendment states that no organization can receive money from the Affordable Housing Fund if it engages in voter registration, voter identification, or get-out-the-vote activity, even of a nonpartisan nature; if it has engaged in such activity in the 12 months before applying for funding; or if it affiliates with any organization that engages in such activity. Affiliation is defined very broadly; the amendment explicitly names overlapping board memberships and sharing of supplies as indicators of an affiliate relationship.

HR 1461 was passed by the House on October 26 and will now be taken up by the Senate, whose version of the bill, S 190, does not yet contains a gag rule provision.

It is highly ironic that organizations that work to help at risk neighborhoods are being punished if they encourage people to vote by helping them register. I know of a local non-profit that had a resident-organized voting drive. Local politicos would come in and call bingo and there was a voter registration table out in the hallway. The politicos included most major office holders, regardless of political party or leaning. This type of activity would put an organization at risk of losing funding. That's an embarrassment.