AFFORDABLE HOUSING FUND before Senate Committee!
ISSUE:
Next week, probably July 27 or 28, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will mark-up S. 190, The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 (GSE Reform). This bill, unfortunately, does not require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to put 5% of their after-tax profits into an Affordable Housing Fund to support housing production for extremely and very low income families. We need to make sure that the committee includes a strong Affordable Housing Fund.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Contact your Senators, especially if they are on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee (see attached list), urge them to insist that the Affordable Housing Fund be part of any GSE Reform legislation.
• Please call their offices NOW using a toll-free number, 1-866-864-NHTF, and ask to speak to your Senator’s Housing Staff.
• Ask the staff to convey to the Senator your support for GSE legislation with the inclusion of an Affordable Housing Fund targeted to families with extremely low incomes.
USCCB POSITION:
Attached is a letter sent by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Chairman of the USCCB Domestic policy Committee, to Members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee urging the inclusion of the Affordable Housing Fund in the Senate bill. “This legislation presents Congress with a genuine opportunity to make the shelter needs of extremely low-income families a national priority. I urge you to support the inclusion of an affordable housing fund in the GSE Reform legislation now under consideration as one way to demonstrate how vitally important housing is to the well-being of our families and communities.”
For more information contact Thom Shellabarger at 202 541.3189 or tshellabarger@usccb.org.
Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
Richard Shelby Chairman (R-AL)
Paul S. Sarbanes Ranking Member (D-MD)
Robert F. Bennett (R-UT)
Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Rick Santorum (R-PA)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
John E. Sununu (R-NH)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Thomas R Carper (D-DE)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ)
July 21, 2005
The Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
The Senate of the United States
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:
I write as Chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to urge you to establish an Affordable Housing Fund as part of the legislation strengthening federal regulation of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks (GSE Reform). Such a fund was included in the House Financial Services Committee's "Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005" (H.R. 1461). The Catholic Bishops have historically urged the federal government to help meet our nation’s promise of a decent home for every American family, especially those families with extremely low incomes.
Such a fund would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use 5% of after tax profits to fund affordable housing for extremely low and very low income families. Families with extremely low income who need housing the most should be targeted to receive these limited funds.
Through our Charities agencies, dioceses, and parishes, the Catholic Community serves tens of thousands of men, women, and children who struggle to maintain adequate housing. Besides sheltering homeless people who turn to us for help, we have built, and continue to maintain, thousands of affordable housing units. All of these experiences have demonstrated to us how inadequate, substandard housing hurts human life, undermines families, destroys communities, and weakens the social fabric of our nation. Despite our efforts--and the efforts of so many others–there just is not enough affordable housing available.
These new affordable housing funds could be used for capital grants for the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of rental housing, as well as assistance for first time homebuyers. A small part of the funds would be used to leverage other money to support housing and economic development. The funds must be used for direct housing purposes only and not for administrative expenses.
Our statement, Putting Children and Families First, notes: “Many families cannot find or afford decent housing, or must spend so much of their income for shelter that they forego other necessities, such as food and medicine.... [The Catholic bishops] support housing policies which seek to preserve and increase the supply of affordable housing and help families pay for it.” We must put in place a sustainable source of funds to build affordable housing and this new fund would do that.
This legislation presents Congress with a genuine opportunity to make the shelter needs of extremely low-income families a national priority. I urge you to support the inclusion of an affordable housing fund in the GSE Reform legislation now under consideration as one way to demonstrate how vitally important housing is to the well-being of our families and communities.
With every best wish, I am,
Sincerely,
Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio, PhD, DD
Bishop of Brooklyn
Chairman, Domestic Policy Committee
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
ACTION ALERT
Call Congress on July 27 to Protect Food Stamp Funding
July 22, 2005
Join other advocates around the country on July 27 and call on Congress to make sure hungry people who rely on the food stamp program are not hurt in the budget-cutting process.
BACKGROUND: The House and Senate Agriculture Committees must find savings of $3 billion in programs under their jurisdiction, which include the Food Stamp Program.
The food stamp program is our nation’s first line of defense against hunger. Last year, about 23 million people a month participated in the program, receiving on average $86 per month. This assistance helps working families make it through the month with enough food; can mean the difference between success and failure for single mothers struggling to make the transition from welfare to work; and provides children, the elderly and those with disabilities with the nutrition they need to maintain good health.
Yet just over half of those who qualify for food stamp receive them. Indeed, 36 million Americans - 13.3 million of them children - suffered from hunger or lived in homes that are on the edge of hunger in 2003. Recent government reviews of the program indicate it is run very efficiently -- there is very little fat in the program. Any cuts in foods stamp funding will likely result in taking food away from people who need it who are being helped now – and leave no resources to reach out to those who are eligible but are not getting food stamp assistance.
ACTION REQUESTED: Call your Senators and Representatives, and let them know:
Ø The Food Stamp program is key to making sure over 23 million people – low-income families, children, the elderly and people with disabilities – avoid hunger.
Ø Ask them to oppose budget cuts in the Food Stamp program, which would result in lowering or cutting assistance people who receive, and rely on, food stamps.
Calls to members of the Agriculture Committees are especially important (see attached roster). If your Senator or Representative is not on the Committee, ask them to weigh in with their Agriculture Committee colleagues. Find your Senators’ local phone numbers in the blue pages of your phone directory, or call their Washington offices through the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121. Go to http://www.frac.org/State_Of_States/2005/Report.pdf for information on food stamp use in your state.
USCCB POSITION: In For I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food [2003], the bishops reiterated that a primary goal of food and agricultural policy should be providing basic food and nutrition for all. In Food Policy in a Hungry World [1989] the bishops called for strengthening the domestic food assistance programs to ensure that no one in America goes hungry or suffers malnutrition. "When the economy fails to provide the jobs and income necessary to prevent hunger and malnutrition, the various local, state, and national food assistance programs must be funded and expanded to provide food to all in need."
For more information, contact Kathy Curran, 202-541-3188, kcurran@usccb.org
Senate Agriculture Committee:
Saxby Chambliss (GA), Chair
Richard Lugar (IN)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Jim Talent (MO)
Craig Thomas (WY)
Rick Santorum (PA)
Norm Coleman (MN)
Mike Crapo (ID)
Charles E. Grassley (IA)
Tom Harkin (IA),
Patrick J. Leahy (VT
Kent Conrad (ND)
Max Baucus (MT)
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
E. Benjamin Nelson (NE)
Mark Dayton (MN)
Ken Salazar (CO)
House Agriculture Committee:
Bob Goodlatte (VA), Chair
John Boehner (OH), Vice Chair
Richard Pombo (CA)
Terry Everett (AL)
Frank Lucas (OK)
Jerry Moran (KS)
William Jenkins (TN)
Gil Gutknecht (MN),
Subcomm. Chair
Robin Hayes (NC)
Tim Johnson (IL)
Tom Osborne (NE)
Mike Pence (IN)
Sam Graves (MO)
Jo Bonner (AL),
Mike Rogers (AL)
Steve King (IA)
Marilyn Musgrave (CO)
Devin Nunes (CA)
Randy Neugebauer (TX)
Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (LA)
John J.H. “Joe” Schwartz (MI)
John R. “Randy” Kuhl, Jr. (NY)
Virginia Foxx (NC)
K. Michael Conaway (TX)
Jeff Fortenberry (NE)
Collin Peterson (MN)
Tim Holden (PA)
Mike McIntyre (NC)
Bob Etheridge (NC)
Joe Baca (CA),
Ed Case (HI)
Dennis Cardoza (CA)
David Scott (GA)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Stephanie Herseth (SD)
G.K. Butterfield (NC)
Henry Cuellar (TX)
Charlie Melancon (LA)
Jim Costa (CA)
John T. Salazar (CO)
John Barrow (GA)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Leonard L. Boswell (IA)
Rick Larsen (WA)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Ben Chandler (KY)
