Budget Update: CNHED advocacy wins increases across the Continuum of Housing

May 29, 2014

Home News and Updates Budget Update: CNHED advocacy wins increases across the Continuum of Housing

Yesterday, the DC Council voted on the DC Budget, reflecting increases by both the Mayor and the Council to provide affordable housing to DC residents.

TOTAL Wins

  • $79.3 million total commitment for the Housing Production Trust Fund
  • $3 million increase to the Local Rent Supplement Program for the production of affordable rental housing
  • $4 million increase to the Local Rent Supplement Program in tenant-based vouchers
  • $7 million increase to Permanent Supportive Housing to support chronically homeless vets and families
  • $1 million restoration to the Home Purchase Assistance Program, with an increase in maximum loan amount from $40,000 to $50,000.
  • $300 thousand for the East End Homeownership Campaign
  • $1 million for a pilot program to fund a DC Low Income Housing Tax Credit

Additional funds were committed to fund a stronger homeless services system including coordinated entry system for individuals, increases to Rapid Rehousing, and many of the program improvements included in the Roadmap to Help Families Home.

A tremendous victory for CNHED’s housing advocacy is the fact that the Mayor’s budget started with a baseline increase of $30 million in one-time funding for the Housing Production Trust Fund. One of the biggest surprises that occurred yesterday was an increase of $8.7 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund identified by Chairman Mendelson and passed by the DC Council.  These funds were unspent capital dollars in the Department of Behavioral Health budget which would have been lost if they had not been moved to the Trust Fund. They are still dedicated to be used for the production of housing for people with serious mental or emotional illness. With this increase, the Housing Production Trust Fund will have a total of  $79.3 million next year.

Unfortunately, none of the Councilmembers chose to recognize the importance of the Trust Fund in the vote discussions yesterday, or acknowledge that the Trust Fund is still short of the $100 million goal many of them have advocated for. We will continue to call on the Council to join with us and increase the total Housing Production Trust Fund commitment to $100 million this year and in future years.

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