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On March 11, 2008 The Corporation for Supportive Housing hosted an audio conference entitled “The Future of Federal Funding for Permanent Supportive Housing: The President’s Proposed FY 2009 Budget and Supportive Housing Policy Priorities.” The panel of the audio conference presenters included:

Steve Berg, Vice President for Programs and Policy, National Alliance to End Homelessness
Elizabeth Prewitt, Director of Government Relations, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
Carol Wilkims, Director, Intergovernmental Policy, CSH
Jordan Press, Director, Federal Policy, CSH

The following are excerpts of key items discussed on Tuesday’s audio conference.

McKinney-Vento Funding

McKinney-Vento funds in 2001 produced 11,000 new units of affordable supportive housing while 2007 McKinney-Vento funds only produced 5,500 new units of affordable, supportive housing. As the yearly renewal burden increases, without adequate funding level, fewer dollars will be available for new units.
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Monarch Housing and CSH strongly urges you to contact your member of Congress AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to request he/she sign on to the attached letter being circulated by Reps. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Geoff Davis (R-KY) supporting $2 billion in funding for HUD’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program.

Background:

The President’s budget requested $1.636 billion for McKinney-Vento - an increase of $50 million over last year. Unfortunately, the budget request of $1.636 million is insufficient to meet emergency needs and fails to build on long-term solutions.

Research and data over the last several years have informed policymakers and service providers of techniques that can be successful in reducing homelessness. Thanks to the excellent work advocates from around the country have done in contacting their representatives in Washington, Congress has provided increased funding in recent years that has helped thousands of people move out of homelessness and into permanent housing. These investments have saved millions of dollars in public funds for emergency and institutional care, while dramatically improving the recovery and self-sufficiency of those served by these programs. Despite our best efforts, unmet needs persist. Members of Congress need to hear from advocates urging them to sign this letter to appropriators calling for more McKinney-Vento funds.

Action:

If you do not know your Congressperson’s telephone number in Washington, you may call 202/224-3121 and ask to be connected. When you call, ask to speak to the staff person who handles housing issues and urge him/her to have the Congressperson sign the bipartisan Waters/Davis letter on funding for McKinney-Vento homelessness programs. The deadline for this letter is MARCH 12. Because it may take Congressional staff a few days to get approval of a letter, it is important you make the call as soon as possible! Leave your contact information and ask him/her to let you know if the Congressperson will sign the letter.

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We strongly encourage everyone to participate in this important event!

Register Now for the March 11 Call!

The Future of Federal Funding for Permanent Supportive Housing: The President’s Proposed FY 2009 Budget and Supportive Housing Policy Priorities

Wednesday March 11, 2008
1:00-2:00 pm ET

Register Now by clicking here.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) is pleased to present our next Hot Topics in Supportive Housing audio-conference focused on the federal budget and policy priorities. In the coming months, decisions by policymakers will have a critical impact on the future of federal funding for supportive housing in our communities. You can learn more about what is at stake and how you can make an impact on the decisions that will be made in Washington this year by participating in this audio-conference. This call will focus on the future of federal funding for supportive housing in the context of the Read the rest of this entry »

The Coalition for Human Needs (CHN) released its annual assessment of the proposed FY2009 Budget. According the CHN this budget “is replete with upside-down priorities. For the seventh year in a row, the President proposes making harmful cuts to domestic appropriations while at the same time extending tax cuts for the wealthy. At a time when the economy is sinking and Americans are struggling, the President fails to provide adequate funding for health care, job training, education, housing and other critical programs.”

To read their full analysis click here.

To view a table that indicates the changes click here.

To view an analysis of its impact on a state basis click here.

On February 4, 2008, the President released the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget. The total spending will equal at least $3.1 trillion. The impact on homelessness and persons with disabilities is a very small portion of the total budget. It is these areas where the budget has a significant impact on supportive services and housing for the homeless as well as persons with disabilities. The President’s Budget is one of the tightest budgets for housing and homeless programs. There are few if any increases equal to or greater than inflation.

Mckinney-Vento funding would be increased by $50 million which might be close to inflation. However, “the funding level would be inadequate. Permanent housing renewals alone will increase by approximately $95 million (preliminary estimate).” Emergency Food and Shelter Program would receive a $53 million cut to $100 million. HOME funding will be increased but CDBG will be reduced. Section 811 will be reduced by $77 million and the 202 program by $195 million.

This budget is another challenge to advocates in New Jersey. In 2007 advocates rallied support to restore most of the budget cuts. For example, this effort resulted in securing the largest increase in funding for Mckinney-Vento. To insure that your voice is heard please make plans to attend the Congressional Reception on July 30, 2008. In addition, now is the time to cultivate your local members of Congress to insure that they are aware of the importance of permanent, affordable and supportive housing.

The following is a summary prepared by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). To read their full report click here. To view a breakdown by specific funding sources click here. For more information about NAEH’s strategy click here.

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Tags: Congressional Reception, Federal Budget, McKinney-Vento, NAEH, Supportive Housing

The NY Times reported this morning that “Lawmakers unveiled a $500 billion-plus catchall spending bill Sunday, reluctantly sticking within President Bush’s budget but still protecting politically sensitive domestic programs from White House cuts.”

Although details are unclear as to the final numbers the article does mention that “Democrats succeeded in reversing cuts to heating subsidies, local law enforcement, Amtrak and housing as well as Bush’s plan to eliminate the $654 million budget for grants to community action agencies that help the poor.”

To read the full article click here.

Last week in our post “Federal Budget Battle Appears to be over” we reported that “Speaker Pelosi is acceding to Bush’s budget numbers, cutting $22 billion from the congressional budget proposal.”

Matt Lewis blogging in OMB Watch expressed a concern that the port-mortem on the budget may be premature. He states this “particularly because the Coalition on Human Needs just put out a good summary of how the Bush cuts would impact people, and since they’re asking for advocates to call Congress in support of human needs programs.” Matt makes a compelling case for the impact but he also notes the weakness of the arguments against the budget cuts. He closes with an admonition. “Next year might be even worse. The opposition, unfortunately, has probably been emboldened by their wins, and the good(er) guys are getting burned by looking “weak” in the press.”

This is even more reason why we need to work year round on these policy issues. Being in Washington on July 16th is important but only if we have worked year round.

The following is Matt’s blog post on this subject.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

A Premature Post-Mortem On The Budget

Perhaps it’s too soon to write a post-mortem on the budget debate. Particularly because the Coalition on Human Needs just put out a good summary of how the Bush cuts would impact people, and since they’re asking for advocates to call Congress in support of human needs programs.

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Tags: Advocacy, blogs, Ending Homelessness, Federal Budget, Supportive Housing