NYHC held our annual Congressional Delegation Affordable Housing Breakfast, which convenes the NY Congressional Delegation Members, City and State housing officials and affordable housing stakeholders to discuss affordable housing priorities for New York in Appropriations, Tax Policy and HUD Regulations. We thank House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman Ritchie Torres as well as RuthAnne Visnauskas, NYS Homes & Community Renewal Commissioner, Adolfo Carrion, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development Commissioner, Eric Enderlin, NYC Housing Development Corporation President and Lisa Bova Hiatt, Interim Chief Executive Officer of the NYC Housing Authority. We were also joined by staff from many Congressional offices.
The meeting was held just ahead of the June 1st debt ceiling deadline, when it is anticipated the government could run out of cash to pay its bills if Congress does not raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit. However, the House Majority is demanding steep cuts to the discretionary budget in exchange for raising the debt limit. NYHC is extremely concerned about what this could mean for the HUD budget, which is already facing pressure from increased costs and decreased revenues. Our national partners expect THUD may face a $13B hole largely due to FHA receipts which help fund HUD budget and have plummeted due to high interest rates and the increase cost of renewals for Section 8 HCV and Project Based programs due to skyrocketing rents. In the past, deficit reduction efforts have led to steep cuts to vital HUD programs like Public Housing Capital, HOME, which funds supportive and senior housing, and CDBG, which funds code enforcement.
NYHC and housing leadership communicated the urgency of protecting HUD programs that serve almost a million low-income New York residents, especially families with children, seniors and individuals with disabilities. Without adequate HUD funding, New York will not be able to avoid a mass wave of evictions and homelessness.
NYHC signed onto the National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding letter calling on Congress to reject spending cuts and instead provide the highest possible allocation for the HUD budget in FY24. If you are interested, you can sign your organization on to the letter here.
