The House is set to consider amendments to H.R. 3055 today! This bill includes critical increases in funding for housing and community development programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). We urge members to expand our outreach to the Indiana delegation by:

Sending this pre-dafted letter urging your Representative to support the bill as well as amendments that would increase investments in affordable housing for low-income households and oppose any amendments that would reduce funding for HUD and USDA programs.

The letter also urges Representatives to support the bill’s policy provisions, including the provision that would prevent HUD from implementing the proposal that would force mixed-status immigrant families – including children who are U.S. citizens or have legal status – to either separate or face eviction and possible homelessness. 

OR

Call your Representative directly. See below for helpful talking points. You can easily find/confirm your representative by entering your address under the "Find Politicians" box on our Advocacy Action Center. If you already know your Representative, you can dial the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

For more details, click here to read our summary of the budget bill, including a complete budget chart, or here to read a summary of the Appropriation's Committee's consideration of the bill. 

Please contact Kathleen Lara at klara@prosperityindiana.org with any questions. Thank you for your advocacy!

Talking Points:

• I respectfully urge you to support H.R. 3055, which contains critical increases in funding for housing and community development programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
• The bill provides sufficient funding to renew all existing contracts provided through Housing Choice Vouchers and Project-Based Rental Assistance and increases funding for the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities, Homeless Assistance Grants, and Rural Multifamily Housing Preservation and Revitalization. 
• It also authorizes funding for competitive grants to public housing agencies to reduce lead-based paint and other health hazards, which is of particular concern in Indiana.
• Our state is facing an affordable housing and eviction crisis. Prosperity Indiana recently released the 2019 Out of Reach Report for Indiana, alongside the National Low Income Housing Coalition, that found that the cost of remaining stably housed continues to rise for average Hoosier renters in most Indiana counties and is out of reach for low-wage workers in every county of the state. 
• If you are a Hoosier earning minimum wage, data shows you have to work 88 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment, as there is a monthly deficit of over $450 to afford the state average fair market rate for a modest two-bedroom unit. 
• Even for the typical renters in Indiana, in 82 of 92 counties, a 2-bedroom apartment is not affordable. 
• These housing wage deficits worsen housing affordability gaps that have already been challenging communities across the state, regardless of size.
• Currently, Indiana has a 134,485-unit deficit of affordable, available rental housing for the quarter of all renters in the state who are extremely low-income (which is a maximum of $24,600 per year for a family of four). 
• It has also been established that, conservatively, 86 households are evicted in Indiana each day. 
• Our state has three large cities in the top 20 nationwide for eviction rankings. 
• Further, only one in four households that qualifies for federal housing assistance receives it. 
• The challenges are great, but modest increases in investments to the housing and community development programs contained within H.R. 3055 will help ensure more communities receive funding to expand safe, affordable housing and more Hoosiers have an opportunity to prosper.
• Given the scale of the challenges confronting Hoosier communities, I ask that you support amendments to increase investments in affordable housing for low-income households. Accordingly, I urge you to oppose any amendments that would reduce funding for HUD and USDA housing and community development programs.
• I also ask that you support the bill's policy provisions, including the provision that would prevent HUD from implementing the proposal that would force mixed-status immigrant families - including children who are U.S. citizens or have legal status - to either separate or face eviction and possible homelessness. 
• As already discussed, Indiana cannot afford to have increased evictions or more families experiencing housing instability leading to homelessness and expect to thrive.