October 19, 2011

The Honorable , Chair The Honorable Tom Latham, Chair Committee on Appropriations T-HUD Committee on Appropriations T-HUD Subcommittee Subcommittee United States House of Representatives Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 133 Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2358A , DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Susan Collins, Ranking Member The Honorable John Olver, Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations T-HUD Committee on Appropriations T-HUD Subcommittee Subcommittee United States Senate United States House of Representatives Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 133 Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2358A Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chair Murray, Chair Latham, Ranking Member Collins and Ranking Member Olver:

The National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA) writes to urge you to increase HUD funding in the final FY12 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) bill.

NACEDA is an umbrella organization for 30 state and regional community economic development associations across the United States. We support non-profit organizations and practitioners who work in the field every day building prosperous communities and neighborhoods.

In Washington, DC, NACEDA participates as a member of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), a coalition of national affordable housing and community development groups. CHCDF members include faith-based, private and public sector, financial intermediary, civil rights, developer, and advocacy groups.

As a coalition, we have significant concerns over the cuts proposed in the House and Senate 2012 funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) House and Senate appropriations bills. The historically deep cuts would cause thousands of households to lose housing. Furthermore, they would exacerbate the economic hardships of thousands more in need of affordable housing and community development resources.

Particularly, the current Senate bill has Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) being cut by almost 15% and HOME investments by 38%. Housing Counseling assistance is cut by 32%. These deep cuts would put a tremendous strain on cities and towns at a time when local budgets are cutting jobs and struggling to support neighborhoods. The HOME program is especially valuable as a critical catalyst, spurring private activity in the housing market. The program offers a return on investment, and a dramatic cut would only slow progress made in our fragile economy.

To protect these families and communities, we strongly urge you to increase funding for HUD programs above the levels in the current House and Senate bills. This could be achieved by adopting the House allocation for HUD programs and then utilizing additional budget authority created by the Senate’s proposed rescissions, so long as any included rescissions do not result in increased hardship for low income families or communities.

Sincerely,

Sam Yoon Executive Director

Cc: Hon. Daniel Inouye Hon. Thad Cochran Hon. Harold Rogers Hon. Norm Dicks