Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) on February 29 to extend funding for federal programs – including HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs – to March 8. The previous CR extending HUD funding was set to expire tonight at midnight, and its expiration would have resulted in a partial shutdown of the federal government. To avoid passing a massive, 12-bill appropriations deal, Congress will instead move the 12 bills in two separate tranches: the first six bills will expire on March 8, while the remaining six bills will expire on March 22.
The new deadline comes as Congress works to finalize 12 fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending bills for federal programs, including the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill that funds HUD programs. Appropriators are expected to release the final text of the first six spending bills by March 3, with a final vote on the package by March 8. Disagreements over funding levels, and most recently over “poison pill” policy riders that far-right Republicans were pushing to include in the bill text, have delayed the bill by six months.
Take Action: Tell Congress to Pass a Final FY24 Spending Bill for HUD!
Your advocacy makes a difference! It is thanks to the hard work of advocates that – at a time when programs faced cuts of up 25% – HUD received increased funding in both the House and Senate FY24 proposals. But the fight isn’t over!
Congress needs to keep hearing from you about the importance of affordable housing and homelessness programs! NLIHC is calling on Congress to finalize and pass an FY24 spending bill with increased funding for HUD’s programs as soon as possible, including:
- Full funding to renew all existing contracts for Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
- Increased funding for public housing operations and repairs.
- At minimum, the Senate’s proposed $3.9 billion for Homeless Assistance Grants.
- The protection of $20 million in funding for the Eviction Prevention Grant Program provided in the Senate bill.
- The House’s proposed $1.1 billion for Native Housing.
Advocates can continue to engage their members of Congress by:
- Emailing or calling members’ offices to tell them about the importance of affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources to you, your family, your community, or your work. You can use NLIHC’s Take Action page to look up your member offices or call/send an email directly!
- Using social media to amplify messages about the country’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis and the continued need for long-term solutions.
- Sharing stories of those directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability. Storytelling adds emotional weight to your message and can help lawmakers see how their policy decisions impact actual people. Learn about how to tell compelling stories with this resource.
National, state, local, tribal, and territorial organizations can also join over 2,200 organizations on CHCDF’s national letter calling on Congress to support the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing, homelessness, and community development resources in FY24.