Join Monday's Day of Action:
Tell Your Members of Congress to
Protect Historic Housing Investments!
From our national partner the National Low Income Housing Coalition:
This week, President Biden confirmed a strategy to advance and enact a scaled-back version of the “Build Back Better Act” to include only those components that can garner the support of – and cost within the total amount approved by - all Senate Democrats. This strategy comes after centrist Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced in mid-December his opposition to the economic recovery package as it was currently written, effectively killing the Build Back Better Act.
Parts of the bill that do not make it into a scaled back version could be repackaged into stand-alone bills. These would require support from all Senate Democrats and at least 10 Senate Republicans, as well as separate floor time during an election year, ensuring virtually no chance of enactment this year.
It is critical that advocates continue to urge your members of Congress to protect and advance the bill’s historic investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund as part of any reconciliation bill that advances.
As homelessness increases and millions of the lowest-income renters struggle to stay housed, we cannot let Congress miss this moment of opportunity.
The House-passed Build Back Better Act includes the largest single investment in quality, affordable, accessible homes for the country’s lowest-income people in history:
- $25 billion to expand rental assistance to more than 300,000 households.
- $65 billion to preserve public housing for its 2.5 million residents; and
- $15 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve over 150,000 affordable, accessible homes for households with the lowest incomes.
Join us this Monday for a day of action!
1. Your members of Congress need to hear from you about why investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund are critical to your community and why they must remain in any budget reconciliation package. Breaking off housing investments into a separate bill is unacceptable.
2. If you haven't done so yet, join the more than 1,800 organizations nationwide by signing onto the HoUSed campaign’s national letter in support of historic investments in rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund in a reconciliation bill.
3. Join us on this Monday, January 24 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm for a #BuildBackBetter tweetstorm! Reach out to your members of Congress on Twitter to urge them to protect housing investments. Below are sample tweets:
- Major investments in affordable housing are at stake! [Your Senator’s Name]: The $150B+ proposed for affordable housing in #BuildBackBetter is monumental! When enacted, it will aid in energy-efficient & climate-resilience homes, rural housing & more. https://bit.ly/3ohDuVI
- #DYK The #BuildBackBetter Act is estimated to create, preserve or retrofit at least 1,396,200 affordable homes and assist 867,916 households in need. https://bit.ly/3ohDuVI
- #DYK 276,480 homes w/ lead-based paint hazard control, housing-related health and safety hazard mitigation in housing of families with lower incomes will be assisted w/ funding from #BuildBackBetter. https://bit.ly/3ohDuVI
- People w/ the lowest income deserve the opportunity to climb the income ladder and achieve financial stability. $$ for rental assistance, public housing, & the Housing Trust Fund will reduce poverty and keep low-income renters #HoUSed. #BuildBackBetter https://bit.ly/3khH7ZR
- [Your Member of Congress’ Name], #DYK renters who pay more than half of their limited incomes on rent are 23% more likely to face food insecurity. #BuildBackBetter serves as the foundation for any strategy to improve health, advance racial equity, address climate & more. https://bit.ly/32YVbRX
- The Senate must pass the #BuildBackBetterAct to provide the large-scale, sustained investments needed to ensure renters with the lowest incomes have an affordable place to call home. #HoUSed https://nlihc.org/housed
- We are just a few steps away from ensuring the lowest-income people are #HoUSed. W/ #BuildBackBetter, we will preserve & expand the supply of rental homes through investments in public housing & the national Housing Trust Fund. https://bit.ly/3gfQUho
- #DYK only 1 in 4 households who qualify for housing assistance receives it, and most are left to fend for themselves. #BuildBackBetterAct puts us on a path to end homelessness once and for all.
Thank you for Your Advocacy!
Join the HoUSed Campaign
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