NLIHC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - June 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A rural appropriations bill passed in the House of Representatives today by a vote of 217 to 203 would result in severe hardship for low income people in rural America. This bill, H.R. 2112, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 2012, would cut funding to three crucial housing assistance programs.

New York, NY - June 6, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Rental vacancy rates are declining, rents are increasing, and low cost rental units are disappearing from the nation’s housing stock. These are among the findings of The State of the Nation’s Housing: 2011, a report of the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released here today.

June 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- At a time when there are 10 million extremely low income renter households in the United States and only 6.5 million homes renting at prices those households can afford, Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) has introduced a bill that would eliminate the only housing program designed to fill this gap. On May 25, NLIHC President Sheila Crowley testified at a hearing on this bill, which would abolish the National Housing Trust Fund.

May 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- On May 25, NLIHC President and CEO Sheila Crowley will testify in support of the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) at a hearing of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) titled, “Transparency, Transition and Taxpayer Protection: More Steps to End the GSE Bailout.” The hearing will be at 2 pm in room 2128 of the Rayburn House office building.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - May 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- On Wednesday the House Committee on Appropriations released its draft 302b allocations, the amounts each of the 12 appropriations subcommittees will have available to spend on their respective FY12 funding bills. The allocation for the subcommittee that funds HUD, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) subcommittee, is budgeted $7.7 billion below the FY11 final appropriation, a 14% cut.

May 5, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- American renters on average must earn at least $18.46 an hour to afford a modest apartment, yet the average renter makes just $13.52 an hour. This is the finding of Out of Reach 2011, a report released annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) that shows the mismatch between the rents available across the country and what low income renters can really afford.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The House and Senate are set to vote today on a budget deal that cuts nearly $40 billion from non-defense discretionary programs. Members of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), a coalition of 72 national affordable housing and community development groups, believe those cuts should not come at the expense of low income households who cannot afford housing or from communities that desperately need assistance. In reality, lawmakers have proposed exactly that by cutting HUD’s budget 6.4% below the FY10 funding levels.

April 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- In his speech today on deficit reduction, President Barack Obama described his vision of the American Dream, saying, “Each one of us deserves a basic measure of security and dignity.” Noting that the mounting national debt could not be reduced solely through cuts to the 12% of the budget that accounts for non-security discretionary spending, the President offered reforms to spending on health care, security, and discretionary programs, and to the tax code.

April 13, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Late last week, budget negotiators struck a last-minute deal on the FY11 budget to reduce federal spending by $38.5 billion. This budget deal averted a government shutdown.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA), National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), and the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA) join together in asking budget negotiators to recognize the vital importance of public housing as they work to reach agreement on an FY11 spending package.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- In the wake of in the House of Representatives’ passage last week of H.R. 1, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011, housing and community development advocates continue their push for funding for communities with a letter to Senate leadership.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Housing Law Project, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the Housing Justice Network have petitioned the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to stop forcing lenders to give misleading and deceptive information to tenants in foreclosed homes – information that leads tenants to forego rights guaranteed to them by the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Yesterday President Barack Obama released his FY12 budget, which would freeze non-defense discretionary spending for five years in an effort to reduce the budget deficit. While some housing and community development programs are spared the knife, critical HUD programs that provide housing stability, promote economic mobility and job creation, and stabilize communities would be significantly reduced

February 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The House of Representatives is expected to vote on its FY11 spending bill, H.R. 1, this week. The bill would cause devastating reductions to non-defense discretionary programs and cut more than $5.7 billion from HUD programs compared to the FY10-enacted level of about $43.5 billion. In addition, the bill would make more than $394 million in rescissions from unobligated balances in HUD programs.

February 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Obama Administration’s report to Congress on “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market” proposes important measures to address the long-neglected shortage of rental housing that is affordable for the lowest income Americans

Washington, DC - February 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- HUD’s biannual report to Congress on the housing needs of low income Americans shows that a record number of very low income households have severe housing problems, particularly housing costs that far exceed what they can afford to pay. The National Low Income Housing Coalition calls on Congress and the Administration to heed the findings of the Worst Case Housing Needs 2009 report and spare federal housing aid programs from the budget cuts that many are threatening

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 26, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- In last night’s state of the union address, President Obama called for investment in innovation, education and infrastructure to spur job growth and sustain America’s leadership in the world. He offered a five year freeze on domestic discretionary spending to begin to bring down the federal deficit, but said that we must “make sure that we’re not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 26, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The House of Representatives today approved H.R. 38, allowing the chair of the House Budget Committee to set nondefense discretionary spending to FY08 levels or lower for FY11. This could result in a spending reduction of more than $60 billion in the current fiscal year, hurting all Americans and disproportionately impacting those in the greatest need.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- In a January 21 letter to White House policy chiefs, the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign called on the Obama Administration to recommend funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) in its upcoming report on the future of federal housing finance policy.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 12, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- This morning, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) released a report indicating increases in foreclosures and families experiencing homelessness, including those living doubled up due to economic hardship.