McKinney and Other Cuts Possible -- 200K+ People Risk Homelessness - Action Requested

[Christine Johansen]

The United States House of Representatives is expected to release a draft FY 2011 funding bill in the next couple of weeks which will restrain overall non-defense, discretionary spending to FY 2008 levels. We need to ensure that key programs like McKinney-Vento aren’t returned to FY08 levels, which would have a devastating effect on people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Compared to the most recent HUD funding proposals, projections are it would cause about 200,000 more people to be homeless who would otherwise be housed.

 

Please see the alert below and, if possible, send a letter like the one attached to the WA delegation.

 

Thank you!

 

Christine Johansen

Washington State Coalition for the Homeless

 

Dear McKinney-Vento Campaign Advocates,

 

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year, and we’re looking forward to working with you in 2011 – and that includes finishing up work on FY 2011 appropriations.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, the new Congress will be preparing FY 2011 funding bills. The current stopgap funding measure expires March 4. Although a concrete, official proposal has not yet been created, House leaders have called for cutting funding to most federal programs back to FY 2008 levels – a plan that the Alliance estimates would result in over 200,000 additional people homeless who would otherwise be housed under the most recent official FY 2011 congressional proposals.

 

FY 2008 level funding would be DISASTROUS for several of the key programs we care about – most notably, McKinney-Vento. The FY 2008 level for McKinney-Vento of $1.586 billion would not even cover the estimated $1.75 billion for simply renewing existing projects in FY 2011 (CoC renewals + ESG) – let alone have any money left over for new CoC projects, the expanded ESG program to provide prevention and rapid re-housing assistance and begin to replace HPRP, or other HEARTH implementation efforts.

 

HUD-VASH vouchers are also at risk, as is funding for the proposed HUD/HHS collaborative “Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration” and proposed increases to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs.

 

In order to prevent these drastic cuts in a time of increasing need due to the recession, we MUST act NOW. Right now, efforts should focus primarily on the House; we’ll work on the Senate in the coming weeks.

 

1. Contact the housing staff member in your Representative’s DC office RIGHT AWAY. If you need help finding contact info for this individual, just let me know.

 

2. Email or fax the staff member a letter asking his/her boss to support the funding levels below. Use the attached sample letter and/or talking points as a guide. Personalize as much as possible. Explain how important these programs are for your community’s work to end homelessness.
1. $2.2 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento program;
2. 10,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers;
3. 10,000 vouchers through the proposed “Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration;” and
4. $126 million for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) programs within the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

3. Ask colleagues, friends, and others to also send letters to their Representative(s).

 

4. Let Kate Seif (copied above) or me know who you contacted and what kind of response you received.

 

Please note that we have put together a website for FY 2011 advocacy in the new Congress: http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/3671. You can find tons of great information here – including policy briefs, suggested messages to use with the new Congress, sample letters, and talking points. Also available is a brief explaining the Alliance’s estimate that 200,000 additional people would be homeless who would otherwise be housed.

 

As always, we will keep you updated as new information becomes available. Until then, it is CRITICAL that Congress hears LOUD and CLEAR from us that these important programs MUST be protected.

 

Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks in advance for your hard work on these important efforts.

 

Best,

Amanda

 

Amanda Krusemark

Program and Policy Associate

National Alliance to End Homelessness

1518 K Street NW, Suite 410

Washington, DC 20005

(202) 942-8256

 

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