House’s GOP-Backed Debt Ceiling Legislation Includes Deep Cuts that Threaten Access to Fair Housing and Equitable Opportunities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2023
Contact: Izzy Woodruff | iwoodruff@nationalfairhousing.org
House’s GOP-Backed Debt Ceiling Legislation Includes Deep Cuts that Threaten Access to Fair Housing and Equitable Opportunities
Washington, D.C. – Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), issued the following statement as debt ceiling negotiations continue:
“As individuals and families continue to struggle with homelessness, rising rents, lack of access to affordable and fairly priced mortgages, biased appraisals and discriminatory tenant screening applications, the House passed legislation that would place an economic chokehold on our nation’s most vulnerable. Instead of providing solutions to the nation’s fair housing crisis and paying our nation’s debts, this legislation is riddled with crumbs which will lead the country backwards. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has said that the cuts would represent some of the most devastating impacts in the department’s history. It would include drastic cuts to critical fair housing programs like the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), which are crucially needed to help address millions of housing discrimination incidents that occur in neighborhoods throughout the nation against people of color, people with disabilities, women, families with children, people of faith, and more.
“There is already tremendous work needed to address the systemic barriers that prevent equal access to housing and financial services and create a fairer and more equitable society. The House GOP bill just adds a flame to the burning ember of inequity, which is not the solution we need as the nation marks the 55th anniversary of the federal Fair Housing Act and the groundbreaking Kerner Commission Report. Instead, a bipartisan, comprehensive housing plan is needed to address housing’s outsized role in inflation, and the U.S. Congress must raise the debt ceiling and create economic stability and security for all of us.”
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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.