NLIHC Statement on the Obama Administration’s FY10 housing budget

FOR MORE INFORMATION: NLIHC President Sheila Crowley at 540-907-2993 (cell) or sheila@nlihc.org

Statement from NLIHC President Sheila Crowley on the Obama Administration’s FY10 housing budget

Washington, DC - Today, the Obama Administration released its budget blueprint for fiscal year 2010. This budget signals a refreshing and much-needed change of direction for the country’s housing policy, and offers hope for the millions of low income families who struggle to find decent homes they can afford.

The budget request would increase funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to $47.5 billion, from the $41.5 billion in the House-passed FY09 omnibus spending bill. Given the housing crisis facing our nation’s families, this increase to critical housing programs could not come at a more important time.

NLIHC is especially pleased by inclusion in the budget of inaugural funding for the National Housing Trust Fund. The National Housing Trust Fund, signed into law as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, will provide communities with funds to build, rehabilitate and preserve housing for people with the lowest incomes, and will be the first new federal housing production program to serve extremely low income families since 1974. The $1 billion in dedicated funding included in the Administration’s budget request for the National Housing Trust Fund represents an important downpayment to a renewed national commitment to housing for all.

President Obama has been a strong supporter of a National Housing Trust Fund during his tenure in the Senate and throughout his campaign. We appreciate that this support is reflected in his administration’s first budget proposal.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes. More information is at www.nlihc.org