Blog: Homelessness Ends Here

On February 1^st  President Obama released his FY 2011 budget request. Highlights in the HUD budget related to homelessness include:

• $1 billion in funding for the National Housing Trust Fund
• $85 million in funding to provide approximately 10,000 new housing vouchers for people who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless
• This is far below what some organizations like the National Low Income Housing Coalition had called for (they’d asked for 25,000)
• A proposal for a new Transforming Rental Assistance (TRA) initiative that would begin to combine funding streams for 13 HUD programs into one flexible and streamlined source of funding
• A proposed 10% increase to homeless assistance programs
• An $85 million collaborative housing and services initiative at HUD requiring HUD, the Department of Health and Human Service ,  and the Department of Education to work together and pool their resources
• A 50% increase for the VA’s homeless assistance programs but a plan for the use of these funds was not provided

A summary comparison of these and other related budget items with recent past years appears below (compiled using figures supplied by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the Office of Management and Budget websites - Dollars in Millions).

Reaction to the budget from the nation’s leading homeless and affordable housing advocates follows:

National Alliance to End Homelessness

From the February 2, 2010 issue of the Alliance’s E-news: 

Among the budget items is a $190 million (10 percent) increase in McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, to $2.055 billion. Included in this figure is $200 million for the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). Though this marks a $40 million increase from the FY 2010 level, it falls short of what would be allocated to ESG if the HEARTH Act was fully implemented.”

The Alliance has published a FY 2011 Budget Proposal Chart, which provides information about the funding level in President Obama's Budget Proposal for numerous key homelessness and housing programs. For each program, it shows how much funding was appropriated in FY 2009 and FY 2010, as well as how much President Obama requested in his FY 2011 budget proposal. The chart also notes whether the President's Proposal represents an increase or decrease and by how much. The Alliance has also published a FY 2011 Budget Rundown, which provides additional details on many of these programs.

National Low Income Housing Coalition

NLIHC President Sheila Crowley Press Statement:

We must object to proposed cuts to programs that produce housing for very low income seniors and people with disabilities (the Section 202 and 811 programs). We support bills currently in Congress to modernize these programs and urge Congress to pass this legislation and fully fund these essential programs that serve some of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens.  We are grateful that the HUD budget was spared the cuts to domestic discretionary programs that are included in the overall budget. Nonetheless, essentially flat funding for HUD this year is insufficient given the high demand for housing assistance as a result of the recession.  We look forward to working with HUD and members of Congress to ensure that additional action is taken to fully solve the affordable housing crisis.  --

Read NLIHC’s analysis of selected HUD program funds for FY11

Corporation for Supportive Housing

From the CSH website:

President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2011 Budget on February 1.  CSH is very pleased to see the Administration’s support for many programs that assist homeless families and individuals and that help create and sustain permanent supportive housing.  Although not all programs fared well, we’ve found a strong commitment to permanent supportive housing as evidenced by increases for key programs at the Departments of Housing and Development (HUD), Health and Human Services (HHS), Veterans Affairs (VA) and Labor (DOL).  We are also thrilled about a new demonstration program within the Section 8 account that proposes to connect voucher holders with supportive services from mainstream systems.  CSH’s Policy Team has created a summary document highlighting key programs of interest to CSH and the supportive housing industry, and is working to provide more substantive updates on our website shortly.

Read CSH”s full analysis: The President’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget and Its Impact on Supportive Housing

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

From the CBPP website:

The short-term priority of boosting the economy and creating jobs and the longer-term priority of bringing deficits under control while meeting important national needs.

There is a strong case for more medium- and long-term deficit reduction than the budget contains. But the budget likely goes as far in this area as today’s toxic political environment will allow, even if the President pushes forcefully for his policies. Indeed, many of his proposals that provide fiscal restraint, from closing unproductive tax loopholes to scaling back agricultural subsidies for wealthy farm operators, may prove to be beyond what a polarized Congress, facing continuous roadblocks and with one eye on the fall election, will produce this year.

Read the full statement from CBPP Executive Director Robert Greenstein