More than 2,225 Organizations Representing Every Congressional District Send Letter Urging Congress to Fund the National Housing Trust Fund

In a dramatic show of grassroots support for the National Housing Trust
Fund, more than 2,225 organizations representing every Congressional district
in the country are sending a letter this week to every U.S. Senator and
Representative urging immediate funding for the National Housing Trust Fund.
The NHTF campaign knows of no other Congressional letter that has received
support from organizations all 435 Congressional districts, plus the District
of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The letter calls
on Members of Congress to provide $1 billion to capitalize the NHTF and
$65 million for project-based vouchers to support NHTF homes. Legislation to
fund the NHTF could be considered before the Memorial Day recess.

The
National Housing Trust Fund was created as part of the Housing and Economic
Recovery Act of 2008, but has not yet been capitalized. Once funded, the
NHTF will support the production, preservation, and operation of rental homes
for the lowest income people in the United States. The NHTF is the first
federal rental housing production program that is specifically targeted to
extremely low income households since the Section 8 program was established in
1974.

The letter in
support of funding for the National Housing Trust Fund is below. A complete
list of all organizational signers is available at www.nhtf.org.

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We,
the undersigned organizations, urge Congress to act soon to provide the initial
funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). We are requesting $1.065
billion be provided immediately to the NHTF: $1 billion to capitalize the NHTF
and $65 million for project-based vouchers to couple with NHTF capital grants.

The
NHTF was created in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) to
address the severe shortage of rental homes that are affordable for the lowest
income families, but it has not yet been funded. The President proposed funding
for the NHTF in his FY10 and FY11 budget requests.

In
the United States today, there are only 37 rental homes available and
affordable for every 100 households with incomes below 30% of their area
median. A scarcity of housing that the poorest families can afford is the
principal cause of homelessness in the United States.

Investment
in the NHTF will create good jobs. Every $1 billion provided to the Trust Fund
will support the immediate construction of 10,000 rental homes, creating 15,100
new construction jobs and 3,800 new jobs in ongoing operations.

We urge Congress to provide this badly
needed funding at the soonest possible opportunity.