" House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its fiscal year (FY) 2011 spending bill."

The proposed numbers look promising, especially in a time of cutbacks, belt tightening and the mean spirited nastiness I've seen coming from many senators on the right side of the aisle when it comes to lending a hand to those on the low side of the national median income (consider the ridiculous arguments against extending unemployment benefits!).  Keep in mind however that the HEARTH Act will need almost two and a half billion bux to be fully implemented....

House T-HUD Subcommittee Marks Up FY 2011 Bill

This morning, the House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its fiscal year (FY) 2011 spending bill.  Although all of the details of the bill are not yet available, the legislation includes: $2.055 billion for HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants (the amount requested by the Administration and a 10 percent increase over FY 2010); $75 million for 10,000 new HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers; $85 million for 10,000 housing vouchers for the Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration; and $350 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program (a $15 million increase over FY 2010). Given the current budget climate and the emphasis on keeping the deficit down, we are delighted that the House has provided increased resources for each of these programs compared to last year's funding. In fact, if passed by Congress, this would be the largest one-year increase in 15 years for the McKinney program! However, it will require $2.4 billion to fully implement the HEARTH Act. What Can You Do? Call the housing staffer in your House T-HUD member's office and ask them to thank their boss for working to include new and increased resources for these programs. Contact the housing staffer in your Representative's office and ask him/her if their boss will ask appropriators to work throughout the rest of the appropriations process to provide additional funding for McKinney programs. Call the housing staffers in your Senators' offices and ask them to work with Senate T-HUD members to provide $2.4 billion for McKinney programs in the Senate FY 2011 bill. Report all responses to Amanda Krusemark at akrusemark@naeh.org / 202-942-8256.