Congressman Steve Womack, Chair
Congressman James E. Clyburn, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development and Related Agencies
House Committee on Appropriations
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Chair
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development and Related Agencies
Senate Committee on Appropriations
VIA EMAIL
February 27, 2025
Dear Chairs Womack, Senator Hyde-Smith, Ranking Members Clyburn and Senator Gillibrand:
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), and the undersigned organizations oppose funding cuts to critical programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including funding for housing counseling, fair housing programs, and funding for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) programs. We ask you to do everything possible to prevent cuts that would deprive Americans of critical programs and services.
If enacted, millions of Americans in almost every Congressional District will be affected by such programmatic cuts. HUD’s housing counseling programs serve millions of Americans and provide free guidance to help Americans buy homes, rent apartments, and avoid foreclosure. Fair housing programs protect all Americans’ access to housing regardless of their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status, and have a strong record of success. In 2022 alone, HUD provided housing counseling services to almost 20,000 individuals and senior services to almost 464,000 senior citizens. During a nationwide affordable housing shortage, we ask you to support low- and moderate-income families’ access to housing and protect all Americans.
HUD’s CDBG-DR grant is another core program that helps millions of Americans. In late 2022, Congress appropriated $3 billion in CDBG-DR funding for states to use during the 2023 fiscal year. For example, Alabama and Georgia received approximately $10.4 million and $12.5 million, respectively for storms and floods, while Florida and Kentucky received $900 million and $297 million for Hurricane Ian, respectively. These programs helped millions of people survive disasters, build back their homes and livelihoods, and get entire communities back on track. As more Americans live in areas prone to natural disasters, we urge you to support disaster relief programs instead of cutting them.
HUD’s housing counseling, fair housing, and CDBG-DR programs have had decades-long bipartisan support because they have proven to be effective at helping people. They benefit Americans living in every Congressional district and remain especially critical during a period of extreme housing shortage, price inflation, and more frequent natural disasters. We urge you to stand firm against cuts to HUD’s programs.
Sincerely,
National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)
Your Organization
Please ensure that cuts to HUD’s Housing Counseling Services do not happen. Every day, we work with people struggling to pay their mortgages and first-time home buyers who need our help to make the dream of homeownership a reality.