Affordable Housing is Vital to the Safety Net


October 7, 2011

Volunteers of America is a leader in providing affordable housing to individuals and families, with more than 300 properties in nearly 30 states across the country. As such a large provider of affordable housing, we know how crucial continued funding for sustaining development is to the growing number of people in need.

Currently many housing programs are targeted for heavy cuts.  Right now, Section 202 seems to be facing the lion’s share of these cuts.  We need to make sure that Congress understands that cuts to housing have more than just a short-term impact.  Housing units that do not get built today have an impact for decades.  We need more units of affordable housing, not fewer.

The United States Senate has recently made moves to eliminate funding for new Section 202 housing developments despite studies citing a need for expansion. A 2008 HUD study recommended 10,000 new units be built between 2018 and 2023, but after strong funding of $371 million for 2,700 new units in FY 2010, that funding was drastically cut to just $91 million for just 594 new units in FY 2011. Further cuts are expected to result in a budget that will cover only the cost of existing renewals and conversions for FY 2012, not only dramatically increasing the number of elderly in need of affordable housing, but also increasing the number on waiting lists. With more than 1.33 million seniors needing low-cost housing, the trend of cutting costs for programs that support those in need cannot continue.

While we understand that programs will face funding cuts in the face of a weak economy, but the cost of not continuing the vital expansion of Section 202 housing will be far greater than the money saved by reducing funding. A weak economy not only affects the government’s spending abilities; it also adversely affects the number of individuals who will need to turn to the affordable housing units Volunteers of America provides. The demand is already greater than the supply, and that imbalance will grow with the lack of funding to continue new development.

Please urge members of Congress to not cut any additional funds from an already strained program and to allocate funding so that the elderly can continue receiving the assistance they so desperately need.

Go to: 

http://support.volunteersofamerica.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=191