Bill Text: NJ ACR154 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Strongly urges Congress to increase funding for Housing Choice Voucher Program in federal FY 2017 to provide at least 70,000 additional vouchers.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-18 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee [ACR154 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-ACR154-Introduced.html
ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 154
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
217th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 18, 2016
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Strongly urges Congress to increase funding for Housing Choice Voucher Program in federal FY 2017 to provide at least 70,000 additional vouchers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution strongly urging the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives to increase funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program to provide at least 70,000 additional vouchers.
Whereas, The "Budget Control Act of 2011" required the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction of the United States Congress (colloquially known as the "Supercommittee") to develop a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years; and
Whereas, The failure of the Supercommittee to develop a deficit reduction recommendation required, pursuant to that law, automatic cuts to federal mandatory and discretionary spending totaling $1.2 trillion from federal fiscal years 2013 to 2021; and
Whereas, On March 1, 2013, President Barak Obama issued a sequestration order reducing federal spending by $85 billion across all areas of the Federal Government, split evenly between defense and non-defense programs; and
Whereas, According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, sequestration reduced funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program by nearly $1 billion in 2013, which has resulted in approximately 70,000 fewer low-income senior citizens, people with disabilities, and families with children throughout the United States having access to housing vouchers under that program; and
Whereas, Out of that 70,000 nation-wide total, the State of New Jersey, faced with a reduction in its portion of those federal funds, reduced available federally-funded housing vouchers by approximately 1,100, or 1.57% of that total, and the loss of those approximately 1,100 vouchers meant that many individuals and families needing housing assistance did not receive that housing assistance; and
Whereas, A Statewide point-in-time count of the homeless, known as NJ Counts 2015, found 10,211 homeless men, women and children in New Jersey, many of whom could have benefitted from the 1,100 vouchers that the State could not fund due to the loss of federal Housing Choice Voucher Program funding; and
Whereas, Given the ongoing concerns of homelessness, mortgage foreclosures, and a general lack of affordable housing in New Jersey, the State cannot afford to continue to lose the federal funding for those 1,100 housing vouchers; and
Whereas, It is imperative that the federal government, through its FY 2017 budget, increase funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program to at least cover the cost of those lost 70,000 vouchers, so that New Jersey can once again offer those 1,100 vouchers to the State's needy families; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):
1. The Legislature strongly urges the United States Congress to increase funding in the federal FY 2017 budget for the Housing Choice Voucher Program to at least cover the 70,000 vouchers lost nationwide to sequestration, in order to provide affordable housing opportunities to low and moderate income New Jerseyans.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to every member of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This concurrent resolution strongly urges the United States Congress to increase funding in the federal FY 2017 budget for the Housing Choice Voucher Program to at least cover the 70,000 vouchers lost nationwide to sequestration, in order to provide affordable housing opportunities to low and moderate income New Jerseyans.
The "Budget Control Act of 2011" required the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction of the United States Congress to develop a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit by $1.5 trillion over ten years. Sequestration reduced funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program by nearly $1 billion in 2013, which has resulted in approximately 70,000 fewer low-income senior citizens, people with disabilities, and families with children throughout the United States having access to housing vouchers under that program.
Out of that 70,000 nation-wide total, the State of New Jersey, faced with a reduction in its portion of those federal funds, reduced available federally-funded housing vouchers by approximately 1,100. The loss of those approximately 1,100 vouchers meant that many individuals and families needing housing assistance did not receive that housing assistance. Given the concerns of homelessness, mortgage foreclosures, and an insufficient inventory of affordable housing in the State, the loss of those 1,100 housing vouchers meant that many needy and deserving State residents did not receive needed housing vouchers.
