Low-income Americans will bear the burden of the cuts included in the new legislation, even as Democrats in the U.S. Congress have thwarted some of the most drastic cuts to housing and other social welfare programs proposed by Republicans.
A comprehensive government budget plan passed earlier this month included funding rollbacks for Washington’s attempts to improve the availability of affordable housing for low-income families and eliminate dangerous lead paint contamination from structures existing.
Congressional leaders are expected to announce a compromise on a second batch of legislation, which could fund important labor, health and education initiatives.
Lawmakers have until Friday to approve the measures; failure could result in a partial government shutdown.
The legislation would set financial caps for several social initiatives, such as HIV prevention, job training for disadvantaged youth, education for low-income children, and more.
Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, and Democrats, who control the Senate and the White House, are still at odds over federal spending priorities, nearly six months into the fiscal year that started on October 1st.
All of this is happening against a backdrop of alarming national debt, which now stands at $34.5 trillion.
Funding cuts in already-passed appropriations bills coincide with warnings from housing advocates that the needs of low-income families are not being met, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak and rising costs real estate.
According to Kevin Nowak, director of CHN Housing Partners, a nonprofit organization, “it costs 40% more today in some places than before the pandemic to produce affordable housing.”
He added: “In Cleveland, one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the country, this will be particularly harmful.”
He was talking about the $250 million cut from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “HOME” program.
House Republicans targeted the program that helps state and local governments create affordable rental and owner-occupied housing for a $1 billion cut.
According to Census Bureau data, Cleveland has a population of 361,607, of which 46.6% are black, 38% are white, and 31.2% live in poverty.
Sonya Acosta, a housing specialist at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, estimates that about three-quarters of potentially eligible households in the United States are not receiving needed rental assistance.
According to Acosta, who cited data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentapplicants spend on average more than two and a half years on waiting lists due to high demand for housing “vouchers” and limited government funding.
Democrats in the House of Representatives project that this new HOME budget would fund about 21,000 newly built or renovated units nationwide, about 4,185 fewer units than the previous year.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee say the recently passed package of bills “maintains housing assistance for vulnerable Americans” while making the first overall spending cuts on “unnecessary” programs in nearly of a decade.
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