NAHMA is requesting your participation in an urgent grassroots effort to advocate for increased funding for Project-Based Section 8 (PBS8) contracts in fiscal year 2016. While the Administration has requested a funding increase for PBS8 in its FY 2016 budget request, NAHMA remains concerned that the funding level is not adequate to fully fund all contracts upfront for 12-months at the time of renewal. In the budget, HUD indicates that the requested amount for the program will be sufficient for 12-month funding, but this assumption is based on a transition to a calendar year funding model wherein all contracts are funded at once beginning January 1 each year.

The shift to a calendar year funding cycle is an untested method that simply pushes a portion of the total annual contractual cost into the next fiscal year, and we are concerned with the accuracy of HUD estimates that provide for the total cost necessary to fund all expiring contacts for a full 12 month period, regardless if it is funded throughout the year (previous method) or on the new calendar year basis.

Below are several documents that will assist you in requesting FY 2016 PBS8 appropriations which are above the Administration’s request. You will need to ask your senators or representatives to make this request on your behalf to members of the House or Senate Appropriations Committees. If your representative or senator is a member of the Appropriations Committees, you may ask them directly (a recent NAHMAnalysis provides a full list of committee members).

The first document is a comprehensive overview of our request to Congress, which provides facts on the program’s funding history, our concerns with the calendar year funding cycle, and information for your Senator and Representative on how they can support our efforts. We encourage you to send this to your lawmaker and his or her staff for them to review the challenges facing the program and why our request for the program exceeds the Administration’s request. With this fact sheet, your lawmaker can make a stronger appeal to their colleagues on the Appropriations Committees. Please click here to view the fact sheet. **Please note that while the committee request deadline for the House of Representatives is March 23, 2015, the Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to establish its deadline**

Next is a formal request summary which will fulfill your lawmaker’s information needs for them to complete their requests to the Appropriations Committees. Please click here to view this request summary.

Please contact NAHMA staff member Scott McMillen (scott.mcmillen@nahma.org) with any questions about this grassroots effort or the materials listed above. To find your senators or representative, please use NAHMA Maps.