WASHINGTON (Dec. 20, 2022) — Congressional leaders overnight released text of a $1.7 trillion spending package to keep the government funded through next September. Lawmakers failed, however, to make permanent critical disaster rebuilding aid and invest in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
Former congressman Rick Lazio, chair of the Enterprise Community Partners board, said the following in response:
“Congress has once again failed to make permanent the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program in the omnibus federal spending package. Our communities will feel the impact of this decision after every major disaster, when critical federal recovery funds take months or years to arrive. My former colleagues in Congress would do well to remember that it’s their constituents who bear the consequences of inaction – and we at Enterprise hope lawmakers from disaster-prone regions especially will lead the effort to get these funds permanently authorized early in the new year.”
Read Lazio and Jacqueline Waggoner's op-ed urging Congressional action on CDBG-DR.
Lawmakers included solid funding for a range of Enterprise's priority programs, but did not make key investments in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
Enterprise's Liz Osborn, vice president, policy, said the following:
“It is heartening to see strong funding for housing and community development in the FY 2023 federal spending package, particularly considering the impact housing costs have on inflation as rents have risen out of reach for too many families. But investing in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was the single most impactful step this Congress could have taken to create more affordable homes for people who need them in every state, and its exclusion in the final package is a huge loss. As we head into the next Congress, Enterprise will continue to advocate for more resources to ease the housing cost burden for working families nationwide.”
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