Last summer, after an eight year campaign, the goal of establishing a National Housing Trust Fund was realized when the President signed into law the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (H.R. 3221). Since the passage of Trust Fund legislation, advocates have worked to secure a dedicated source of funding.

The Fiscal Year 2010 budget and appropriations processes provide golden opportunities to secure funding for the Trust Fund and other HUD programs designed to get people into housing and off the streets. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council calls upon advocates to sign on to an open letter to Congress and the Administration requesting resources for the National Housing Trust Fund and additional funding for housing vouchers.

Housing & Homelessness
Mobilizer readers understand the direct relationship between contemporary homelessness and the decline of federally-funded affordable housing. Between 1976 and 1983, HUD budget authority shrank from $83 billion to $18 billion (in 2004 constant dollars), and has languished below $35 billion since.

As funding for affordable rental housing has decreased, the "very low-income" renter population has grown from 10.7 million households in 1978 to 16.3 million in 2005. Drastic Federal disinvestment in affordable housing unsurprisingly has placed a greater number of low-income households at risk of homelessness. Today, 9 million extremely low-income renter households compete for only 6.2 million affordable rental homes.

The Fiscal Year 2010 HUD Budget
In their FY 2010 Budget Proposal, the Obama Administration requests a total allocation of $47.5 billion for the Department of Housing & Urban Development. Highlights include full funding of $4.5 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program, an increase for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, and $1 billion to capitalize and launch the National Housing Trust Fund. The National Council is particularly pleased with the new Administration's support for the Trust Fund, though a much larger investment is needed to create the envisioned 1.5 million units of affordable housing over the next ten years.

"What We Mean by Housing"
The National Low Income Housing Coalition has drafted an open letter to Congress and the Administration entitled "What We Mean by Housing." Through the lens of the current economic crisis, the letter examines the need for affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes and highlights the significance of a major investment in federally-funded affordable housing for the United States. Specifically, the letter requests:

• Dedicated sources of funding for the National Housing Trust Fund sufficient to, over the next ten years, produce or preserve 1.5 million homes affordable to people with extremely low income.
• 200,000 new "housing choice" vouchers each year for ten years.

The National Council enthusiastically endorses this letter and encourages Council members individually to support the National Low-Income Housing Coalition in their work to end and prevent homelessness by providing decent, affordable housing for all.