Velazquez Fights to Protect Housing, Economic Programs

Washington, DC – Joined on the steps of City Hall by New York City advocacy groups, Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) today called on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or "Super Committee") to protect federal housing programs that provide thousands of New Yorkers with affordable housing, while creating economic opportunity throughout the country. At today's event, Velázquez announced she is sending a letter to her colleagues on the deficit panel, asking them to spare housing programs from draconian cuts.

"From affordable housing, to job creation, New York's entire economic well being could be fundamentally shaped for the next decade by the Super Committee's decisions," said Velázquez. "We need to make our City's voice heard early and often throughout this process."

In addition to helping meet the basic housing needs of Americans and New Yorkers, HUD initiatives have proven to be wise investments that generate economic activity in low income areas. By helping fund capital improvements in New York City Housing Authority facilities and providing resources for other community enhancements, federal housing initiatives have a proven track record of spurring local job growth in New York City.

"Ultimately these programs are about creating opportunity in areas that have been hardest hit by the recession," Velázquez noted. "Initiatives like HOME and Community Development Block Grants reinvest in our communities, while creating local jobs. Cutting them now would only undermine our nation's economic recovery."

In New York City, five percent of residents live in public housing and 300,000 families reside in public housing and project-based Section 8 developments, making federal initiatives run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) vital. As the Super Committee has been tasked with identifying savings in the nation's budget, most observers expect that safety net programs may be targeted for funding reductions.

"As the Super Committee seeks way to reduce spending and raise revenue, we need to make them aware how critical housing programs are not just to meeting New Yorkers' basic needs, but to keeping our economic recovery on track," Velázquez noted.

During today's press event, the Congresswoman was joined by area advocacy groups and other elected officials.

"The last thing the super committee should contemplate cutting are the federal housing programs that so many rely on," said Congressman José E. Serrano. "In this economy, we cannot make housing more expensive, or more difficult to obtain. Our working families are facing enough without adding this burden."

"Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, from NYCHA to Section 8, depend on affordable housing programs to stay in their homes and keep our city vibrant and diverse," said State Senator Daniel Squadron. "Cutting federal affordable housing programs when times are getting tougher is unconscionable, bad policy, and a bad strategy for our city's and our country's future. I thank Congresswoman Velazquez, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and the rest of our congressional delegation for fighting to preserve these programs."

"Housing infrastructure for low-income families needs to be preserved and expanded, not threatened with shrinkage and extinction," said David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society. "Hundreds of thousands of low-income New Yorkers on the Housing Authority's waiting lists for public housing and vouchers attest to the need and the opportunity these programs represent, particularly in the midst of a sustained job recession. The price of deficit reduction should not come at their expense."

The Super Committee was created by the Budget Control Act of 2011, legislation that passed in early August to prevent the nation from defaulting on its debt. The panel is charged with issuing a recommendation by November 23, 2011 for at least $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction steps to be undertaken over a ten‐year period. Under the Budget Control Act, those recommendations are automatically considered in Congress by an "up or down vote" and are not subject to amendments, making their suggestions for budget reductions a critical step in the process.