May 19, 2000

Issue:

Recently, the House and Senate Budget Committees made their allocations to the various appropriations subcommittees. This is the amount of money the subcommittees have to fund programs for FY 2001. Low-income housing advocates are very concerned that the funding allocation for the Veterans Administration and Department Housing and Urban Development (VA/HUD)/Agencies subcommittees-which control the HUD budget-are well below the Administration's request and even fall short of what is necessary to maintain the current level of service.

Action:

Please contact your congress members and the leadership in the House and Senate to explain how important these programs are. Tell them that their current allocations are too low. Ask them for their support to make sure that VA/HUD programs are adequately funded. If you know of any housing or community development projects in your area, share them with your congress members.

Senate Leadership

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.)
Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK.)
Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.)
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.)
Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.)
Rep. Richard Armey (R-Tex.)
Rep. Tom Delay (R-Tex.)
Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK.)
Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO.)
Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.)
Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.)
Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio)
Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.)

Contact your congress members through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121.

Background:

The Senate has allocated $77.8 billion is discretionary budget authority to the VA/HUD subcommittee, while the House has allocated $78 billion in budget authority to that committee. These allocations are approximately $6.5 billion below the $84.4 billion in budget authority requested by the Administration for FY 2001. They are also more than $6 billion less than would be required to maintain the current level of services. In order to meet this target, the Subcommittee would have to cut funding by about 11.5 percent from the President's request. (This level of cut assumes that the shortfall would be spread evenly across all the agencies that the subcommittee funds. However, in the past HUD has been disproportionately affected, so it's quite possible that the cutes could be deeper.)

Housing and community development initiatives are the foundation for continued economic growth and health and well being of every member of a community. In light of the growing shortage of affordable housing and the substantial budget surplus, additional investments in affordable housing and community development are both necessary and affordable.

The 1996 General Assembly resolution on "Eradicating Poverty and Improving the Human Habitat" states "the General Assembly has also spoken about housing in 195, 1961, 1964, 1966, and especially in 1989 where the 201st General Assembly (1989) recognized affordable housing as a problem affecting both low-and moderate-income people, calling upon the entire church to be involved in seeking solutions through a combination of public and private initiatives."

General Assembly

The 208th General Assembly (1996) "called upon the United States Congress to…stimulate the creation of affordable hosing and facilities for the homeless."

For more information:
Presbyterian Washington Office (202) 543-1126