The Latest Housing News from
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
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HOUSING: Senator Murray Warns that
the President's Housing Budget Will Hurt Families and Undermine Community
Development
Murray Questions HUD Secretary About Budget
Proposal that Cuts Funding to House the Elderly, Disabled, and Vulnerable
Families
(Washington, D.C.) – This week at a Senate hearing, U.S. Senator
Patty Murray (D-WA) warned that the President's budget proposal for
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will hurt
families and undermine community development efforts nationwide. Murray
is the top Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees HUD funding.
On Thursday, she questioned HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson about the
President's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2007.
Overall, the President's budget would cut HUD funding by 1.8 percent.
The president's budget proposes specific cuts, including:
- Housing for the elderly – cut 26 percent
- Housing for the disabled – cut 50 percent
- Community Development Block Grants – cut by more than $1
billion
- Funding for public housing authorities for utility costs –
frozen again (for the 5th year in a row)
- Funding to keep more than 13,000 public housing properties from
falling into dilapidated, decrepit and inhumane conditions -- cut
11 percent. (Public Housing Capital Fund)
Last year, Murray helped fend off some of the most painful cuts from
the President's FY 2006 budget proposal. She said that this year she
will fight once again to enact a budget resolution that will "keep
faith with the people who need HUD assistance the most."
Murray said the President's budget reflects the wrong priorities.
She noted that while the Administration is proposing to cut $620 million
from HUD, it's working to boost spending for Exploration Systems in
NASA by more than $860 million.
'"I support the overall goal of space exploration. But when
it comes to sending an astronaut to Mars or housing our elderly and
disabled neighbors here on earth, there's no doubt where my priorities
lie," Murray told Secretary Jackson.
Murray has been meeting with housing leaders throughout Washington
state in the past few months. In December, she toured public housing
facilities in Vancouver. In January, she met with housing leaders
and advocates in King County. Last month, she sat down with low-income
housing leaders in Spokane.
Murray is a member of the Senate Budget Committee, which helps set
the overall funding blueprint for the coming fiscal year. Murray said
that if the funding level for housing is set too low during the current
budget process, housing will face step cuts later in the year when
the Senate makes specific appropriations based on the overall budget
blueprint.
Senator Murray's full opening statement at today's hearing with
Secretary Jackson follows:
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Remarks by U.S. Senator Patty Murray
Appropriations Committee Hearing on the President's FY 2007
HUD Budget Proposal
SENATOR MURRAY: It's been more than six months since Hurricane Katrina
reminded all of us of the ongoing poverty that grips so many American
families. After the storm, millions of us gathered around our television
sets and saw vulnerable Americans struggling for their dignity and
struggling for their lives.
One of the little known facts about Hurricane Katrina was that public
housing authorities across the country made heroic efforts to find
housing to relocate hurricane victims. I want to commend them for
their hard work and compassion.
But the sad fact is that every one of those public housing authorities
already had long waiting lists of local families who had been waiting
years for housing to become available. That means the efforts to house
Katrina victims pushed other poor families further down a long waiting
list. Those families who were pushed down the list were, in most cases,
no less poor, no less desperate and, in some cases, no less homeless,
than the Katrina victims. And the vast majority of them are still
waiting for an available unit today.
We shouldn’t be a in a position where -- if we respond to a
disaster -- our only choice is to hurt families who have been waiting
years for housing. But that's the position we find ourselves in today
– and there is one reason why – years of misguided housing
budgets.
Now, we're once again working on a new budget for the coming fiscal
year. We should not make the same mistakes again. Unfortunately, that's
exactly what the President's budget would do.
HUD has a critical mission – to promote home ownership, ensure
safe rental housing, house the homeless, rejuvenate desolate communities,
and provide hope to a great many struggling Americans. We are talking
about the impoverished elderly. We are talking about disabled citizens
who have unique housing needs. We are talking about helping the working
poor climb the economic ladder.
I have often said that budgets are about priorities. And it is clear
that the Bush Administration’s priorities are not with the missions
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The President’s
budget for the coming fiscal year proposes to increase discretionary
spending by 3.2 percent. But within that total, HUD is singled out
for a cut of 1.8 percent. The Community Development Block Grant program,
is slated for a cut of more than a billion dollars. All funds for
the HOPE VI program – a program designed to demolish and replacing
our most decrepit public housing units – is proposed for elimination
in the Bush budget.
In fact, the Administration’s budget goes even further and
calls on the Congress to eliminate the funding that we have already
appropriated for this program in 2006. Housing for the elderly is
cut by 26 percent, while housing for the disabled is cut by 50 percent.
These proposed cuts come at a time when every study tells us that
these populations are growing – and growing rapidly.
One thing that has been clear to every American this winter is the
fact that utility costs have risen dramatically. It seems that everyone
knows that – except for the Bush Administration. While utility
costs have risen dramatically for public housing authorities across
America, the Bush Administration wants to freeze operating funds for
public housing authorities for the fifth year in a row.
Funding for the Public Housing Capital Fund – which is intended
to keep over 13,000 public housing properties from falling into dilapidated,
decrepit and inhumane conditions -- is singled out for an 11 percent
cut.
As I said earlier, the President’s budget proposes to increase
discretionary spending by 3.2 percent, but all of the rhetoric and
public statements by the President and his OMB Director have sought
to divide this budget into three separate categories: funding for
Defense; funding for homeland security, and funding for everything
else.
Their implication is clear. In the view of the Bush Administration,
programs in this third category – programs that educate our
children, prevent disease, or house the underprivileged -- are the
least worthy of public funds. Within this third category, the President
proposes to cut overall spending by 0.5 percent. But for HUD, which
falls entirely into this third category, this Administration is proposing
a much larger cut of 1.8 percent. The message is clear: the non-defense,
non-homeland security portion of the budget is a low priority for
the President, and funding for HUD’s work is an even lower priority.
It is worth noting that, while the Administration is proposing to
cut the HUD budget by more than $620 million, they are proposing to
boost spending for Exploration Systems in NASA by more than $860 million.
Like many of my colleagues, I support the overall goal of space exploration.
But when it comes to sending an astronaut to Mars or housing our elderly
and disabled neighbors here on earth, there's no doubt where my priorities
lie.
Mr. Chairman, last year, with your strong support, we were able to
fend off many of the more painful cuts included in President Bush’s
budget for HUD. Unfortunately we were handed an allocation by a budget
resolution that I did not support that resulted in our having to accept
some of his proposed cuts. Last year, our appropriations bill did
cut the Community Development Block Grant program by more than half
a billion dollars. We did cut the HOPE VI program by 31 percent.
I am a member of the Budget Committee, as you used to be, Mr. Chairman.
If we are presented with a budget resolution that continues to cut
the Community Development Block Grant program, I am going to be the
first Senator out of the box offering amendments to restore those
cuts. I hope that, together, you and I can work together toward ensuring
that a budget resolution is adopted that will allow us to reject these
ill-conceived proposals so that we can keep faith with the people
who need HUD assistance the most.
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