Housing and the Election Webinar: 5 Ways You Can Take Action

August 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment

By Sarah Mickelson, NLIHC Director of Public Policy

Over the next few months, affordable housing and community development organizations have an opportunity to influence a number of critical issues before Congress and to help break through the noise of the presidential campaigns to make affordable housing an election issue.

Join us for a discussion with NLIHC staff on our Summer/Fall Issues Guide and Sample Candidate Questionnaire. On the webinar, we’ll review five ways you can take action between now and the November elections to advocate for the issues that are most important to your mission, the people you serve, and your community.

Speakers include:

  • Sarah Mickelson, Public Policy Director
  • Elayne Weiss, Senior Policy Analyst
  • Joseph Lindstrom, Senior Organizer for Housing Advocacy

For more information and best practices on how nonprofit organizations and individuals can lobby their elected officials, see Lobbying: Individual and 501(c)(3) Organizations in NLIHC’s 2016 Advocates’ Guide.

The Housing & the Election webinar was presented on September 7 and can be viewed here: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Webinar_5WaysToTakeAction_090716.pdf 

 

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Join Organizations Across the Nation To Make Housing an Election Issue!

August 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The conventions are over. Candidates up and down the ballot are out on the campaign trail making promises and asking for votes.

Let’s join forces to make sure that affordable housing is on their agenda.

Please join NLIHC, Make Room, and organizations across the nation to send 1 million messages to Congress to get housing affordability on the agenda by Election Day.

Here are three ways you can support the campaign:

  1. Join us. Sign your organization onto the national letter or sign up as an individual.
  1. Raise the profile of affordable housing issues locally. The Make Room Advocacy Toolkit includes sample letters to the editor, emails and e-newsletters, social media messages and website promos, and questions to ask members of Congress at town hall meetings. It also features best practices for meeting with your elected officials one-on-one or inviting them to tour affordable housing developments.
  1. Spread the word. Encourage other national, state, and local organizations, elected officials, and advocates who believe that housing is a critical resource for our communities to join the campaign.

Our nation is facing a housing affordability crisis of record proportions. Too many Americans cannot make rent, and Congress has done little to ease this growing burden.

Every day until Election Day, together let’s deliver one clear message to Congress: Americans cannot afford places to live and need help.

Please join us! We cannot achieve our ambitious goal of 1 million messages without you.

 

Filed Under: Campaigns, Events, Must Reads, News round-up, Policy Focus Tagged With: , , ,

NLIHC’s Advocacy Guide for the Election Season

August 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment

nlihc-2016_issues-guideOver the next few months, affordable housing and community development organizations have an opportunity to influence a number of critical issues before Congress and to help break through the noise of the Presidential campaigns to make affordable housing an election issue.

This summer and fall, Congress will be in their home districts and states between August 1 and September 6 and again between October 10 and November 11.

To help advocates make full use of this time, NLIHC has created a Summer/Fall 2016 Advocacy Guide, outlining the five key ways organizations can take action between now and the November elections to advocate for the issues that are most important to their mission, the people they serve, and their community.

The Advocacy Guide covers ways organizations can help:

  • Increase federal spending on key federal housing programs;
  • Expand and improve the Low Income Housing Tax Credit;
  • Ensure that housing needs are addressed in criminal justice reform;
  • Support the Make Room campaign—an initiative to demand that Congress make affordable housing a top priority; and
  • Use NLIHC Voterization resources to engage voters and candidates.

For more information and best practices on how nonprofit organizations and individuals can lobby their elected officials, see Lobbying: Individual and 501(c)(3) Organizations in NLIHC’s 2016 Advocates’ Guide.

Together, these resources can help advocates make their voices heard and build strong relationships with their Members of Congress.

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Congress at Home, Advocates Should Urge Action in Fall

August 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment

 

Will you be meeting with you representatives this month while they are in district?  Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are on recess during the month of August, resuming legislative business on Monday, September 8. While they are in their home districts and with most House Members and 27 Senators seeking reelection in November, housing and homeless advocates should take the opportunity to remind them of the work they have left to do before the end of the 113th Congress.

A top “must pass” item is the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act (PTFA). The current PTF law expires at the end of 2014. Unless it is made permanent or extended by December 31, many tenants whose landlords or property owners lose their properties to foreclosure will no longer have federal protections against imminent eviction. The laws governing tenant rights will revert to the array of state laws on the status of tenants at foreclosure, most of which still offer less protection than the federal law. S. 1761 and H.R. 3543 are the two Permanently Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure bills that need a vehicle for enactment this year.

Congress also must complete its FY15 HUD and USDA Rural Housing Appropriations bills. The Senate and the House will delay finalizing these bills until after the November election, but all Members need to hear that you expect funding at the levels in the bills that have cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee.

While no further action is likely on either housing finance reform or tax reform, advocates should stress that when Congress does act on these issues in the 114th Congress that robust funding for the National Housing Trust Fund must be included.

For more information on these issues and more, go to http://nlihc.org/issues.

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Project Spotlight: State Housing Profiles

June 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment

2014 State Housing Profile: CAHow many renters in my state are extremely low income (ELI)?

What is the total shortage of affordable and available units for ELI renters, and where in my state is that shortage the worst?

Which renter households face the greatest housing cost burden?

What is my state’s 2014 Housing Wage?

Advocates can find these answers and more powerful data on NLIHC’s State Housing Profiles. Updated in April to feature the most recent housing data, our State Housing Profiles use data from a variety of sources to provide an overview of affordable housing need at the state level. Advocates can use these one-page profiles to educate both the general public and lawmakers about the great need for affordable housing.

Click here to download your State Housing Profile today!

 

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