The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, joined by the presidents of Catholic Charities USA and the National Council of the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul, called for “robust funding” for eight federal housing programs and “increased support” for five others.
“Our nation is faced with an affordable housing crisis that sees no sign of improvement,” Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, joined by the two presidents, wrote in a May 21 letter to leading members of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. “This crisis is further punctuated by the alarming rise in homelessness.”
The federal housing programs, they continued, “help people build better lives, and any cuts to funding or substantive programmatic changes that undermine the effectiveness of affordable housing programs should be opposed. Further, considering current economic conditions, flat funding for housing and community development programs is effectively a cut to these vital services.”