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Housing Action Alert – September 20, 2005
Kathy Kregor – Legislative Advocacy Committee
Urge Speaker Hastert and your Representative to support Emergency and Permanent Housing Resources for People Displaced by Hurricane Katrina
Background: Currently, there are two pieces of legislation in Congress that address the housing needs of the Hurricane Katrina victims
- The first is the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill for FY06 (H.R. 2862) passed by the Senate with an amendment that would provide $3.5 billion in temporary rental assistance to families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The House of Representatives approved its version of this bill in June, so a conference committee must work out the differences between the House and Senate versions.
- The second is the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005 (H.R. 1461), that would strengthen federal regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Affordable Housing Fund component of the bill stipulates that 5% of the companies’ after-tax profits be dedicated to affordable housing funds, expanding these government sponsored enterprises (GSE) to provide more affordable housing.
On September 14, Representative Michael Oxley (R-OH), Chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Representative Richard Baker (R-LA), principle author of H.R. 1461, announced that they had reached accord on proposed changes to the Affordable Housing Fund component of H.R. 1461. The key change would be create a priority for affordable housing projects both in the disaster areas declared after Hurricane Katrina and in areas where evacuees have moved for the first two years of operation.
Together, these pieces of legislation address both the long term and short term needs of the hurricane victims.
Catholic Social Teaching: Hurricane Katrina has left thousands of people without a home. Catholic Social Teaching has long recognized housing as a basic human right .
Action Needed : Call your Representative and Speaker Hastert and ask that:
- they support the Senate language in the appropriations bill for emergency rental assistance for people displaced due to Hurricane Katrina and
- they support the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) component of H.R. 1461, so our nation can better address the need for more permanent affordable housing in communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina and elsewhere across the nation.
Letters to send online are available at www.housingmatters.org and www.networklobby.org. The alert is based on alerts and information from these sites as well. |
