NEW YORK — The Brennan Center for Justice along with 90 national non-profit organizations, sent a letter yesterday to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee opposing an amendment to the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act (H.R. 1461) that would impose anti-democratic and unconstitutional restrictions on the Affordable Housing Fund set up by the Act.

Specifically, the amendment – which is in the version of the bill going to the Rules Committee this afternoon – would bar any organization seeking support from the Fund from engaging in any voter registration, voter education or get-out-the-vote efforts for 12 months prior to receiving the funds, and in many instances, from engaging in the right to engage in lobbying or grassroots lobbying. The amendment would also bar organizations receiving such funding from affiliating with organizations that engage in the forbidden activities.

The letter, to Chairman David Dreier and Ranking Member Louise Slaughter, asks them to permit a separate up-or-down vote on the amendment. A constitutional analysis of the amendment and why it runs afoul of the First Amendment, authored by the Brennan Center for Justice, was also provided to the Rules Committee leaders.

The Affordable Housing Fund is a source of substantial funding for the creation of housing for low to very low-income families. The establishment of this fund is a critical and long overdue step toward addressing the housing crisis that affects vulnerable families.

However, the restrictions on the Fund are unnecessary, and most importantly, unconstitutional. Under the United States Constitution, funding conditions that impinge on constitutional rights, such as engaging in voter registration, voter identification, get out the vote activities, and lobbying, are suspect. Courts usually overturn blanket provisions – like the restrictions on the Fund – that prevent recipients of government funding from using their own funding to engage in constitutionally protected speech.

The restrictions – which extend to non-federal funds and even to affiliations with organizations receiving no federal funds – serve no legitimate government purpose. Indeed, the restrictions undermine important federal goals, such as ensuring that citizens are able to vote. For these reasons, the Rules Committee should allow a vote on the amendment.

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