Housing advocates warn GOP spending plan would be ‘disastrous’

Housing advocates warn that House Republicans’ plan to dramatically cut the federal deficit to raise the debt ceiling would strip rental aid from hundreds of thousands of struggling families, who could face eviction and homelessness at a time when rents are high.

Last month, House Republicans narrowly passed a measure to roll back non-defense spending to 2022 levels, which the National Low Income Housing Coalition said would cut housing and homelessness programs by 23%, a major blow to the Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance program that 2.3 million families rely on.

“House Republicans’ plan would have drastic negative impacts on communities’ abilities to address homelessness and the housing crisis,” said coalition CEO and president Diane Yentel to The Associated Press. “These proposals would force communities to take housing assistance from people who need it.”

Republicans hope House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s measure would compel President Joe Biden to negotiate with them to raise the debt ceiling and ensure the Treasury can pay its debts.

Yentel concerns that Democrats may accept costly housing fund cuts to reach an agreement.

During a 2011 debt ceiling standoff, then-President Barack Obama and then-Speaker John Boehner agreed to automatic annual expenditure cutbacks, which Yentel said crippled the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Yentel said the Budget Control Act placed stringent spending caps on HUD and other agencies for 10 years. “Even though we haven’t been under those tight spending caps over the past couple of years… we still haven’t made up for all the cuts since 2011.”

She added voucher program funding must increase annually to keep up with inflation and rising rents.

According to realtor.com, median listings rose 16.4% from January 2021 to January 2022, a year after rents peaked. Federal data shows rents jumped 0.6% from March to April. Still high, that’s one of the year’s smaller gains.

“At a time when rents are so high, pandemic-era eviction resources have been all but depleted and homelessness is increasing in many communities—now, more than ever, we can’t afford any cuts to these programs,” Yentel added. They need more funding.

Joel Griffith, a Republican Heritage Foundation research fellow, said HUD funding is out of control and housing aid should be a “temporary assistance program targeted towards those who are truly in need.”

Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy, R-Texas, agreed. What’s too much debt? Roy mentioned national debt. “We must limit spending, so we must do it.”

According to the AP, Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri termed the House bill “egregiously offensive” because it “turns a blind eye to public housing and would further diminish our nation’s already short supply of affordable housing.”

At a December congressional hearing on affordable housing, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry promised to “prioritize housing” and “actually achieve some bipartisan results.”

After four months, McHenry’s House Financial Services Committee has held no housing hearings.

The Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, led by Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, is similar. Though a subcommittee hearing on mortgages and housing affordability was set for Wednesday, just one of 74 GOP measures addressed to housing.

McHenry spokesman Laura Peavey did not address whether the GOP spending plan would decrease housing significantly. “It’s important to note that after two years of unified Democrat control and trillions in new congressional spending, housing is now less affordable,” she said. Davidson’s spokeswoman declined several requests for comment.

The ranking Democrat on Davidson’s panel, Cleaver, said he has attempted to focus on housing, but Silicon Valley Bank’s failure has consumed members’ time.

Cleaver, who grew up in a two-room Texas home, is “obsessed with housing because I don’t want a single kid to grow up like I did.” He told the AP that SVB’s collapse had dashed his aspirations of elevating housing in Davidson’s panel.

“I don’t see anything that’s going to move us to giving the kind of attention to housing that I think we need,” Cleaver added.

Cleaver has advocated for boosting tax incentives for builders of low-income housing, which he believes may get bipartisan support and help address the growing housing supply gap—realtor.com recently estimated the country is short 6.5 million homes. However, congressional partisanship is a major impediment.

“One of the reasons we have not been able to move with the magnitude and mercy that this housing issue requires is what is happening in the country all too often nowadays, and that’s a bold and short-sighted political need to divide people,” Cleaver added.

The Democrat-controlled Senate finance and banking committees’ affordable housing hearings give Dennis Shea, executive director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy, hope that Congress will act.

Shea said voters from both parties are complaining about housing affordability. This is not a coastal or metropolitan issue. It’s also a Midwestern, rural problem, and I think Congress knows that.”

The Bipartisan Policy Center has endorsed several housing supply, preservation, and affordability solutions. Shea said increasing low-income housing tax credits and introducing tax credits for low-income families to revive distressed regions will create 2.5 million additional houses over the next decade.

Shea said House Financial Services committee chair McHenry is “very plugged in on the importance of affordable housing.”

“We have to prioritize housing,” Shea added. “Our challenge.”