More than 1,800 organizations in 413 Congressional districts
have joined the national sign-on letter urging Congress to support
our communities by providing $1 billion for the National Housing
Trust Fund. This is an incredible show of support, and we thank you
for your work to help make the National Housing Trust Fund a
reality.
We want to send the letter to Congress THIS WEEK. That means we
have just a few more hours to add organizations in order to reach
our initial goals of 2,000 organizations in all 435 districts.
(We'll continue to keep the letter open for signatures after this
week, but we want to do everything we can to pass these milestones
before the first version of the letter is made public.)
Can you help today and tomorrow? If your organization
has not joined the letter, click here to sign. Then please forward
this email to urge every organization in your network or coalition
to sign on as well. Signatories can be local, state, and national
organizations, including nonprofits, congregations, labor unions,
corporations, and government agencies.
Here is the letter in support of the National Housing Trust
Fund:
***
We, the undersigned
organizations, urge Congress to act soon to provide the initial
funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). We are
requesting $1.065 billion be provided immediately to the NHTF: $1
billion to capitalize the NHTF and $65 million for project-based
vouchers to couple with NHTF capital grants.
The NHTF was created in the
Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) to address the
severe shortage of rental homes that are affordable for the lowest
income families, but it has not yet been funded. The President
proposed funding for the NHTF in his FY10 and FY11 budget
requests.
In the United States today, there
are only 37 rental homes available and affordable for every 100
households with incomes below 30% of their area median. A
scarcity of housing that the poorest families can afford is the
principal cause of homelessness in the United States.
Investment in the NHTF will
create good jobs. Every $1 billion provided to the Trust Fund will
support the immediate construction of 10,000 rental homes, creating
15,100 new construction jobs and 3,800 new jobs in ongoing
operations.
We urge Congress to provide this
badly needed funding at the soonest possible
opportunity.
***
THANK YOU FOR
SIGNING
THE NHTF SUPPORT LETTER TODAY!
Need to learn more about the National Housing Trust Fund before
signing on? Click
here
for background information.
